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

I think it is safe to safe to say that most people know the words of this famous hymn written by Mrs. Helen Lemmel. Some have even sung it while silently praying that they would no longer be held captive by the world and the many things in it. What even those people may not know is that the chorus of this hymn was inspired by the words of a woman by the name of  I.Lilias Trotter.

“Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen harmless worlds at once — art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them, we run the risk of drifting about, the good hiding the best. It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Dare to have it out with God, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His Glory. Turn your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”

The wording of this quote is different from how we speak today. And it was a completely different time when these words were written. But the gist of it is how effortless it is to drift in our walk with God. Also, how the good (the world) can hide the best (Christ). It can be so difficult to treasure Christ when this world is filled with “treasures”.

So how can we treasure Christ in a world filled with “treasures”? Practically speaking we can turn our eyes to Jesus by peeling our Bibles open. And then praying earnestly that God would show us His glory. That bright light that overcame darkness and the only light that can dim the light of the world. This is one of the means of grace by which we can see the worthiness of Christ. It’s only while reading our Bibles that then can we understand the reason the angels never cease to praise Him. We must consistently look to the Word so that the world will appear to us as it really is, dull and incomparable to Christ.

God delights in truth in the inward being. (Psalm 51:6)

We can be honest with God. We can weep and tell Him we know that He is the only treasure but we often get thrown off the path by little trinkets. We can tell Him that we know He is better than anything else we can behold but yet we find ourselves being held captive by lesser things. We can be honest and say that we have stopped following in His steps because of something that can’t hold a candle to Him. We are wretched things that don’t know our left hand from the right (Jonah 4:11). We know that Christ is better but we become hypnotized with various little shiny things. Our devotion to Him is like a morning dew, that quickly evaporates as it lands on the earth (Hosea 6:4). And yet, God still pursues us. He never ceases to draw us with His bands of love (Hosea 11:4). In the Bible, God says that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). But, I have to be honest sometimes I haven’t even drawn myself near Him, and He’s already right there, near me.

When we read the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), even though Jesus isn’t saying this parable to highlight the father’s love for his son; but rather to highlight the behavior of eldest son. We can’t help but see the similarities between the son’s father and our own Father. The son had to make this one long, hard journey to his father. But I believe in our walk with God we may find ourselves needing to be embraced and kissed again. We will need to be re-robed and to have the same rings and sandals given to us again and again. But it is always better to be with the Father.

Last Things

I wanted to end this post by saying that I am so happy for the good work that God is doing in you. No one reads a blog post like this unless they’ve been drawn by God. He is doing an awesome work in your life, even though you aren’t yet where you want to be. And that is what it truly means to be a Christian, to be continually hungering and thirsting for more. A person in Christ has a ravaging appetite to be more holy and to be more like Jesus Christ. It is the good work of the Holy Spirit to point out how we are not like Him, and yet the Spirit gives us the desires to be like Him. So I am thankful for the work that the Spirit is doing within you, you can rest assured that God will complete this work and one day you will see Him as He really is (1 John 3:2). May you love the Lord with all your strength. And may you be true to the Heart that died for you.

Resources:

I am a huge fan of this podcast! It’s host Leslie Ludy is a godly woman, and I love the content she produces. This particular episode was a quick introduction to Ms. I. Lilias Trotter. I highly recommend that you check it out!

If this quote from Ms. Trotter has you wanting more, check out these links: 1, 2 and 3.

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