Guest post by C:
Picture of Jesus by Ariakne, aged 8. Click for source.
There’s a song we used to sing when I was younger, called ‘Turn Your Eyes Upon a Jesus’. I believe it was written by Helen H. Lemmel. These are the words:
O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Saviour,
And life more abundant and free
(Chorus)
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there
Over us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conquerors we are
(Repeat Chorus)
His word shall not fail you He promised
Believe Him and all will be well.
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell
It’s the chorus I’m particularly interested in. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”
I must confess, that for me, the things of earth shine very brightly and I don’t know how to turn my eyes upon Jesus, I don’t know what it feels like to look full in His wonderful face. But, I’d like too.
I believe the verse it is based on, is the beginning of Hebrews 12:2:
Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. (Good News Bible).
But I’m not sure what this means.
What does it look like to ‘keep our eyes fixed on Jesus?’,
What do people see?
Do you fix your eyes on a specific image of Jesus? Like having Him next to you? Or is it simply a reminder to look heaven-ward? And what does that mean?
Do some people actually develop a way of fixing their eyes on Jesus?
Have some people discovered a way of looking ‘full into His wonderful face”.
Or is it just a way of holding Jesus before us, to make sure we are following Him. To make sure He is first, visible?
I have no doubt God is the one on whom my faith depends from beginning to end. But, I would love to know how to keep my eyes fixed on Him, to look fully into His wonderful face.
What does this look like?
C
That is a great question, and one I have been pondering for a while. Here are a couple of thoughts that might help.
First, Paul tells us in 2 Cor 3:18 that dwelling on the glory of Jesus will change us more into his likeness day by day. This will sound like the typical evangelical response but, given that the Bible is all about Jesus, the answer here seems to be: ‘read your Bible and look for how it helps you to see the glory of Jesus more.’
Secondly, you could take a leaf out of the Puritan Richard Baxter’s book. Indeed, out of his actual book The Saint’s Everlasting Rest. In Col 3:1-4 Paul tells us to set our hearts and minds on Christ and where Christ is. So Baxter would spend time every day taking a walk in his imagination in heaven. He’d imagine the beauty, taste the fruit, drink from the river of life, chat to Moses and so forth. As he reflected in his heart the things of God, the place where his heart is at rest, this world grew dimmer to him and that freed him to serve Christ.
Hope that helps.
I see fixing my eyes on Jesus in ballet terms (not that I ever have done ballet).
When a dancer wants to spin round and not go off course they keep their eyes fixed on a fixed position and when they turn round, even away from that spot, they flick their head round quickly.
For me then, I think it means fixing my sight onto an end goal. Looking heavenward will keep us traveling that way.
But there is also more to it than that. I think there is a bit where we have to look to Jesus, and the only place we can do that is in the Bible. But what does that mean? It means looking at the promises to us – he is the author and protector of our faith. So looking at all he has done and acheived fixes our eyes on him. You can’t go wrong reading Ephesians for that.
But there is also the joy that comes through having a relationship with a living God. One whom we know we can talk to. Another great song “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Jesus is our mediator, so when we fix our eyes on him, it means looking to him and we pray, and not just for ourselves, but as Paul says, “In all things, and at all times, with all kinds of requests.”
And to help with our heavenward looking, Revelation 21 doesn’t get much better! No more pain, God will be with us, amongst us. A sure hope :)
Blessings
M
1. Expect to do it imperfectly
2. As you fail and things of the world shine bright, know that He loves you still more than those things ever can.
3.Sing of that love that never fades, thankful for His forgiveness.
4. Expect to fail again.
5. Know that heaven is coming and very soon…He has the big picture in view.
I kind of find it a cycle, as I get knocked off rejoicing in His love for me but as I see my sin I see what a mighty mighty Saviour and as I go round the spiral staircase that is life I do see progress in the things of this world shining less bright, and I am more able to rest in His Sovereignty and Sufficiency. Marriage has been a big issue in life where I have had to learn this, I am not married, I would love to be but its not happened yet, despite several seemingly good options. But with a thankful heart I can trust His purposes, day by day and sometimes it has to be moment by moment. But He is still faithful and good and wonderful. He knows what he is doing in my life….phew!
Dear C
I have to learn everything the hard way. I am sorry to say that for me the only times the “things of this world grow strangely dim” is when they have been exposed to be in fact: Dark
Have you ever been fooled by a silk flower, a wax fruit, a candle that smells like cake, a “nice” man or an air brushed photo-shop model? Dim. Dark.
Have you ever done a good deed only to realize it was chiefly to earn the praises of men? Darkness.
Do you ever remember as a small child being out shopping in a busy store with your mum and losing sight of her ? Nothing but strangers anywhere you looked? Utter Darkness.
Peter took his eyes off Jesus and immediately started sinking into the waves. Jesus reached out and pulled him up. He had to look up to see Jesus and be pulled from the waves by his strong arms.
Like Peter, I often see only the waves (flowers-fruit-candle-man-model-motives-strangers) and start to sink. I frantically look around groping for something/someone to save me. He is there. (oh, you were there all the time…just behind that rack of blouses?)
As someone already mentioned above, revealed knowledge of God is found in primarily in the scriptures (in creation too). We are told to renew our minds in order to be transformed. This renewing is something we can actually do, but it is Him revealing Himself that allows us know Him in the first place. There is a proverb I love:
Commit your works to the Lord and he will establish your thoughts.
When I “look to Jesus” I do actually picture him in my mind as the scriptures say he was when he walked the earth: sometimes angry, sometimes sad, often frustrated at the half listening half wits that pelted him with clever/stupid questions.
I see him feeding people, healing people, being kind to the garbage of that society (the sick, the weak, the damaged) and offering himself as the hope of victory: don’t worry about tomorrow, go and sin no more, go and do likewise…
A long winded way to say this: darkness is the absence of light, and it is light that overtakes the darkness. It is actually in knowing the darkness of our own worldly hearts that we can see His brightness shining.
Very simply: he is the only one who can be said to have lived the fulfilled, wholly satisfied life. I recognize that i want that too. As a man too, he knows where he came from and where he is going back to. His Father. Only he exhibits the sort of love that can allow a life to be lived in all the contingent uncertainties of life. In other words, any mortal would long since have given up the ‘fight’. We yearn for love, many do not find love, we yearn for human companionship, I do not find it. We can yearn for the security we would try to offer a young child. That yearning never leaves us nor should it. So, surely we shall take the fix. Life is broke as we experience it, more surely for those who suffer the most. He came for me, and for you, because you are afflicted with myriad troubles. I am too busted to be fixed, that is why i am immeasurably greedy and i shall have all of this star of Stars. It is this love of his person that i fix upon, I shall not need to make myself sad again at my brokeness. I am the rust bucket of a car who is driven into the garage, and the garage man says ‘i can do nothing’, and but i have a different tact, I can give you a new car and transfer all the old identity and make that new too. So i go away incredulous, wondering how this man could be so generous, but take the ruddy lot, ungratefully, but with total relief that i shall be able to get to work the next day.
Hey C! Great questions. Thanks for having the courage to share them. I feel less dumb because I have more questions than answers too.
A big thanks for all your thoughtful responses – much appreciated by us both.
What an excellent ffind on this wet Wednesday.
Thank you for lightening up my month.
:-)