It’s a lie I’m always fighting, that I can’t live in conscious, ongoing fellowship with Christ because I’m too busy. I want to forever and always get past it, but somehow I find myself here again and again. Certainly business can be the enemy of deep fellowship. After all, Jesus said that the “worries of this life,” would choke out the Word and make it unfruitful. But the truth is my heart wanders far easier than my schedule does. And it’s a mystery to me why – because is there anything sweeter than the simple, singular focus on Christ?
On the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, when the disciples saw Jesus in glory along with Moses and Elijah, the vision fades and verse 8 says that when they lifted up their eyes, “they saw no one but Jesus only.” Isn’t this the end result of truly having our eyes opened? Everything else in the background blurs. Jesus only. Can there be a more life-infusing place for the ministry weary soul than the place of seeing Jesus only? And I am weary. I am weary of complexity, weary of trying to make one more wise decision, weary of troubleshooting and problem solving and peacemaking, weary of composing gracious responses to defuse fussy people, weary of tetrising schedules.
What a gracious gift that I am able to set that all slide and turn my eyes upon Jesus, to, as the hymn says, “look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.”
A.W. Tozer wrote that “faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving God.” If saving faith is my eyes all on Christ, then renewing, lifegiving faith is returning the eyes to Jesus once more. Here is fresh breath in the lungs – Jesus only. All of the complexities of life can be boiled down to Paul’s cry in Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ.” And when I think about what that really means, it leads me to Acts 17:28, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Jesus defines for me success, pleasure, joy, productivity, sorrow, value, and priorities, truth, beauty, and goodness. Life really can be that simple. The ordinary and yet extraordinary gifts of God’s Word and prayer are always available to fill our vision with Christ. And the other things around will fade – but strangely also be in focus, and we will know with clarity what the next right step is, and we will take it with Him, and that makes all the difference.
*The Hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” is by Helen Howarth Lemmel