Turn your eyes upon Jesus

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.