Monday 28 October 2013

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Have you ever heard the old song whose chorus is........

“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.”

It was written in 1922 by the hymn 
writer Helen Lemmell.  Strangely, that old hymn has come back to me many times in the last few weeks.  I say ’strangely’ because it was something that I thought was well gone from my mind – relegated to the past, discarded into the recycling bin along with Redemption Hymns, Mission Praise, overhead projectors and Schofield Bibles.  Yet this old hymn has been imprinted onto my mind in fresh ways lately.   So maybe God’s got something to say 

  • Turn your eyes – consciously, purposefully, deliberately turn into new directions. Turn away and turn round and see.........differently
  • Upon Jesus – the incarnate one, the spotless, unblemished Son of God, the perfect Saviour, the mighty God, the Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the soon coming king. He’s the one we are to look at deliberately
  • His wonderful face – what a face – the one that looked with love upon the woman taken in adultery; the one that looked with forgiveness and grace into the failed disciple Peter’s eyes; the one that was creased with tears at his friend Lazarus grave; the one was racked with pain and crowned with a crown of thorns. That face.
  • The things of earth will grow strangely dim – all those wonderful attractive which seemed marvelously seductive; all those things suddenly seem less important; all those petty idols that grip my heart lose their power; the gods I worship are seen for what they really are - illusory and deceptive, empty and lifeless. All of them will mysteriously and strangely GROW dim – like the screen on my laptop when the battery dies. That which seemed to be powerful becomes dead to me.
  • In the light of his glory and grace- for he alone is glorious and he alone is full of truth and grace. And he is altogether wonderful
Wow! You know what that means – the bigger Jesus becomes in our thinking, in our consciousness, in our mindset, in our lives then and only then does everything else pale into insignificance.  Make more of Jesus in your life and in your thinking exalt him high, honour him in all things look at him.  For the more you look at him, then the more wonderful he becomes!!

Here’s the full hymn...

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!

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;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!

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!