Locked In

Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
-Proverbs 4:25

One of the weird things about having teenagers is realizing how much language has shifted from a few decades ago.  There are constantly new phrases working their way into rotation, and old words taking on fresh meaning. I lost all pride associated with trying to be relevant years ago, so now I just ask a couple times a week, "What does that phrase mean now?"

One phrase in particular isn't too hard to decipher, but it's definitely risen to prominence in our household the last few months in the lives of my teens and their friends: 

Locked in.

Now, it's nothing revolutionary, but it's used all the time around here. It means you are in the zone:
"Saquon Barkley is so locked in right now. Look at his expression on the sidelines. He's ready to go." (Yes he was.) 
"That race didn't go well. I wasn't really locked in during my warmup." 
"I was finally able to get locked in for a bit and finish my homework." 

Locked in is just a 2025 way of saying "focused." But it's a better way to say it. It gives you this physical sense of someone who is not bouncing around in lots of directions. It's about a mindset that allows the main thing to stay the main thing so that somebody can really excel. Or, conversely, it's a way to describe how someone's focus and mindset is all over the place, so they're not going to do their task very well. 

So this month every time I hear that phrase, I've been thinking about what it means for disciples of Jesus to be locked in during the coming year. 

This is a struggle for me. I feel everything, all the time. I'm overwhelmed by all that needs to be done in the world, not always knowing my role. I go down rabbit holes sometimes, or sit here trying to solve endless issues that aren't even mine to solve. I foolishly start scrolling fresh debates on social media and then just get irritated at the world and values that are spoken but not embodied. And then sometimes I just ignore everything and watch Eagles highlights for waaaaay too long. 
Totally not locked in. 

While some of those things may have a place in my life (maybe) for 5 minutes, it's not the calling that we have right now as people of Jesus. 

We are called, like the writer of Proverbs says, to look straight ahead and fix our eyes on what lies before us. It's a prequel to what the writer of Hebrews wrote, to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." 

We are called be people who, regardless of the social, political, or personal landscape of our lives, embody the spirit and the character of Jesus minute by minute. We are called to be imitators of the heart of God in everything that we do. That means it's going to look like integrity, compassion, truth, self-control, kindness, and love. And the greatest of these is love. 
It will require prayer. It will require healthy life rhythms. 
Living deeply has always required this. 

I love the way that author Eugene Peterson paraphrased the expanded Proverbs passage 30 years ago: 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust.
(Proverbs 4:23-25 MSG)

I believe my teenagers would say that describes someone who is locked in. 

There is always so much swirling about as we learn to live as disciples of Jesus in the United States. Every single day, a million lesser kingdoms are courting us for our attention and allegiance. 

We need not ignore what's happening in the world around us. But as we engage with the right focus, it will enable us to be curious, courageous, and compassionate (I find those things almost impossible to balance if I'm not keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus). It means we will look to be the helpers, so that people will know us by our love and not our rhetoric. It means we will live beyond dualistic attitudes that try to label a person as either good or bad.

Let's make a shared commitment to be "locked in" with eyes on Jesus, created in God's image, empowered by God's spirit, and intended to do good works in God's world. 

Jesus, fix my eyes on what lies before me today, so that all I do would build your kingdom. 

Peace,
Keith