Look

I love the old hymn "Turn your eyes upon Jesus."  I really love that hymn!  Here is the chorus:

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 a favorite song for my mom as well.  We sang it at her funeral.  It has a tremendous amount of personal meaning to me.  I used it as a lullaby for each of my children.  Every time the babies would hear that song you could see them calm down and relax.  It worked like that for my mom as she suffered from dementia.  As she drew close to death, I would sing that chorus to her and you could see her physically relax.  As I walked through that dark time in my life, I hummed the song often to myself because it reminded me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus.

The author and composer of the song is Helen H. Lemmel who lived from 1864 until 1961.  In addition to being known as a brilliant singer and musician, Mrs. Lemmel was also widely recognized as a woman with remarkable literary ability. She wrote more than five hundred hymns and poems.  The inspiration for this hymn came from Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I've been thinking about these verses this week as I am in the midst of a Bible study on the book of Hebrews.  This week, yup, chapter 12.  There are a gazillion sermons that could be preached from these two verses.  They are so full it makes my head spin.  But as I pondered verse two:  "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God," I found an amazing truth: 

The joy set before him.

What was the "joy set before him?"  I don't know all the answers, but I know one.  He knew that at the completion of his work on earth, man could be reconciled to God through him.  The "joy set before him?"  Me!  He was thinking about the joy of having a relationship with me!  He thought about you, too.  His very heart was to reconcile each of us to God, to himself.

Jesus fixed his eyes on the joy set before him so I could fix my eyes on Jesus.  Go ahead, I dare you to look.  In fact, stare.  Fix your eyes. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. 

Resurrection

A Face Book friend proposed this question:  Would you believe the resurrection if someone told you it happened today?  What a great question.  I would have to answer “Yes!”  You see, my faith isn’t some pie in the sky mythology.  It is based on fact.  The facts are found in the very Bible itself.  The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the narratives of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  These books record that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women.  He appeared to the eleven disciples.  He appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus.  In fact, he appeared to several hundred people over the course of 40 days as recorded in 1 Corinthians 15.  Most of the people who testified to the resurrection of Christ were so convinced of the resurrection, they were willing to die for their faith.  From John 20:29 ’Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”’

I know from personal experience that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God who desires a personal relationship with His people. It says in Deuteronomy 4:29 “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  God tells us nearly the exact same thing in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Down through the ages, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has required one thing:  faith.  Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.   We have many examples from Scripture of those who had great faith.  By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man by God.  By faith Noah spent 100 years, in holy fear, building an ark even though he had never seen rain.  By faith Abraham, who was called to leave his home, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead.  By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the pharaoh’s command.  And later as an adult, Moses, by faith, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. These are examples from Genesis and Exodus.  There are many more as you read about Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, and the prophets. (From Hebrews 11)

The bottom line is you either believe God or you don’t.  If I could talk you into belief than someone could talk you out of it.  Jesus is the Son of God who died for my sins and your sins.  Some say he was a good man and some say he was a good prophet.  Some say he did not exist until His birth.  But he is either Jesus, God incarnate or he is a lunatic.  He is who he claims to be or he is a liar.  So I would suggest that if you really want to know if the resurrection is true, you ask God.  Because if you seek Him, you will find Him, when you seek with all your heart.