"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"
Hymn by Helen Lemmel
Happy New Year, friends! Did you know that the above hymn was written by a blind woman? She, of course, didn't need physical sight to look upon her Lord...neither do we. We only have to recognize that there are good things to look upon and some not-so-good things to look upon. What are you looking at today? What are you looking for? I've used this quote by John Lubbock before, but I think it bears repeating
"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."
Ann Voskamp, in her Christmas devotional THE GREATEST GIFT, talks about Samuel as he was "looking" for a new king. She says "always, always, first the eyes...", meaning, I think that she was agreeing with Mr. Lubbock that it is with our eyes we find what we look for. Then she says:
Joy is a function of gratitude and gratitude is a
function of perspective. you only begin to change
your life when you begin to change the way you see.
Oh I am so ashamed of some of the things I spend my time looking for...temporal and worldly things. Everything in the world causes our eyes to look away from our wonderful Savior. What we look for and how we see things affects everything we do...our lifestyle, our relationships, our goals, our joy.
Think about Peter (Matt. 14:22-36) and the joy and satisfaction of obeying Jesus in stepping out of the boat and going to Jesus on the water. "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink...". Oh is that not the story of our lives?
If we look for things that are wrong, we will find them. If we "look for the Lord and his strength", we will find Him! Our choice.
For further study: 2 Chron. 7:14, Psalm 34:5, Psalm 121:1, Prov. 4:25, Isaiah 55:6, Zechariah 12:10, Matt. 6:33, John 1:35-36, 2 Cor. 4:18, Phil. 4:8
Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.
Love,
Holly
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