Turn You Eyes Upon Jesus
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Do not lose heart. Those words are not intended to spur you on through you own strength and fortitude. They point you toward the one who can sustain us even when we have lost our strength, our hope, our fortunes, our sense of security and safety.
The nightly news is not very hopeful or encouraging these days, is it? Factories are closing at alarming rates; homes are going into foreclosure by the dozens every day; people are losing jobs; gas and food prices soar; and on and on and on. Perhaps you’re struggling with an illness, or the illness of a loved one; maybe you have health issues that make life more challenging for you. Maybe you’re in debt so deep you don’t think you’ll come out the other side. Maybe you’re grieving over the recent death of someone you cared about.
Whatever you’re dealing with in your life may not feel light or momentary. Paul reminds the Corinthians, and us, there is an answer to how we may endure whatever we are going through. I am reminded of the chorus of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” The writer of this song, Helen Lemmel, had certainly found solace in her Savior and his promises:
So 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.
When I start feeling sorry for myself—well, honestly I’m usually pretty fully engrossed in self-pity—I think of the Cross and who hung there. My frame of reference begins to change. My earthly burdens do seem to become lighter. I start to see a light at the end of the tunnel in my situation.
Jesus promised: 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]. 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17. [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20. At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [Joh 14:14 - Joh 14:21]
Cling to the promise of Jesus. He is God’s answer to the how and the why and the who of every situation we find ourselves in. So 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.
Mary
