Have you ever seen someone and thought they were someone you know? Maybe you even waved or said hello, and then that embarrassing moment came when they turned around, or you got a closer look at their face, and you realized – oops! That’s not my friend!
For the next few weeks, we’re considering what it means to turn our eyes upon Jesus. The chorus of the hymn by that name says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face . . .” But how can we find comfort in a face we can’t see or even picture in our mind?
I don’t want to assume too much about what Helen Howarth Lemmel, the writer of the hymn, meant when she wrote this phrase. But when I think of looking into His wonderful face, I think of gazing on all that makes Jesus unique. Just as we distinguish between a stranger and a friend by looking at their face, we look at Jesus and see how different He is than anything else this world has to offer.
We could study God’s Word for our entire lives and still never grasp all that is wonderful about Jesus. But here are a few verses for you to gaze upon today:
Jesus is the fullness of God and also our Savior. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)
Jesus is all-powerful and reigning at God’s right hand. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)
Jesus is our living hope. “. . . he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3b)
Jesus is our Shepherd who knows us and gave His life for us. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14-15)
No matter what you face this week, look full in Jesus’s wonderful face.
(Click here to read the first devotional in this series.)
Share
[…] through the chorus of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”: “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 […]