Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
That hymn never ever ceases to
encourage my heart. The depth of the simplicity of it is life-giving.
The song says that as we look full in His wonderful face, the things
of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
What a promise, what an undeniable truth. Our troubles are mere
memories of an enemy defeated long ago. The evidence of that is the
absolutely lackluster pallor taken on by every earthly thing as we
lift our eyes above the horizon to gaze at our Savior in His
infinite, inexhaustible splendor. Everything falls in the shadows of
His glorious grace: our failures, our defeats, our temptations, our
fears, our abilities, our self-worth, our idols, our everything
becomes as nothing in the light of Jesus' face.
I look up at the night sky, the
darkness all around me is thick, and I see the stars, millions and
millions of them, and I see nothing but a flickering gleam billions
of miles away. They provide no warmth, they provide no comfort, they
provide no light to see clear the path of things I must do. But then,
as I seek to see, suddenly a faint light breaks over the horizon, and
suddenly the far away stars begin to disappear altogether. The
futility of trying to live by their light is no longer something I am
bound by. And as I consider the depth of this, I realize that the
whole earth around me is now wrapped in inescapable light, and the
sun above has completely dimmed the millions and millions of things I
was looking at before. And so it is with Jesus. His glory, His grace.
I look at that, and suddenly millions and millions of things in my
life—from my failures to my defeats to my temptations to my fears
to my abilities to my self-worth to my idols to my
everything—suddenly they all have become strangely dim, and the
light of the Son lights my path and reminds me of the futility of
seeking any of those pale flickering things instead of Him.
His glory is abundant, and it doesn't
take more than a few seconds of thought to be overwhelmed by the
wonder of it. Creation. Existence. The majesty of a King who loved
His people so much that He died a gruesome death to free them. There
is nothing more magnificent than that. How could I let anything in my
life compete with the magnitude of God's glory?
His grace is true, and it doesn't take
more than a few cursing breaths to realize that I have nothing to
stand on apart from His grace. He was raised to justify us, the
lowest, most undeserving creatures in existence. He had grace on us.
He gave it freely, He gives it freely. How could I let any struggle I
face compete with the overpowering might of His free grace?
If you would just turn your eyes upon
Jesus, I promise you, the things you were once ruled by will fade
into the background, and the light of His glory and grace will
illuminate your life in ways you never thought possible. Every shadow
in your heart will be exposed, and every tear you cry will evaporate
by and by in the intense heat of the light of His face.
