Sunday, November 6, 2011

Strangely Dim

Just a thought I had tonight: When we’re looking into the eyes of Jesus, it’s a bit hard to get distracted by everything around us. His gaze is compelling and strong. As Helen Lemmel wrote,
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.
Do we believe that Christ is all we need? Do we run to him above all else? Do we find our satisfaction in him? Sometimes get so sidetracked by everything else going on that I forget why I’m even living this Christian life. I get so bombarded with the junk and the trials and the insignificant things that I lose sight of Jesus’s face. And what a scary place that is.

When we’re not looking at Jesus’s face, we are so easily distracted and so quickly beat down and discouraged. But God wants to encourage you and remind you of the great cloud of witnesses that is surrounding you. He wants to give you the strength to keep going and to press on even when things are rough, even when the problems and issues of life seem to weigh you down. He has great plans for you that are bigger than the circumstances around you right now.

My advice for the weary soul? Go and worship. Lift his name. And suddenly the “things of earth will grow strangely dim.”

After about 45 minutes of acoustic worship in the small chapel on campus, I joined a group of students, led by our campus pastor, as we walked to the waterfall on our campus. Thirty-four years ago today, there was a massive flood on our campus from that waterfall that destroyed all of campus and killed 39 people. But tonight, as we walked out to the falls along a path lined with votive candles and tiki torches, we saw the falls illuminated by and outlined in moonlight. It was gorgeous. We gathered to pray and I realized how insignificant my problems actually are compared to the greatness of God. We gazed up at the waterfall clothed in moonlight and stared up at the stars shining all too brightly upon us and we realized how great God is and how small our problems are.

And they grew strangely dim.

No comments:

Post a Comment