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.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. – Romans 8:18
The old hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” begins with the questions, “O, soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see?” And we feel every bit of that sometimes. Our internal lives are a bleak mess. Our circumstances are an overwhelming disaster. We are weary and troubled and see no obvious hope.
What I love about this hymn is that the chorus doesn’t promise that Jesus will fix all our troubles. It promises that Jesus is better than all our troubles, that the troubles we face are not worthy to be compared to “the light of his glory and grace.” But the hymn also calls us to action–look full in his wonderful face. Gaze upon Jesus. Reflect upon his love shown so powerfully at the cross. Dwell upon his victory proven in the resurrection. Consider the manner in which he loved the unloveable and redeemed the unclean. And meditate on the promise of his return to set this world right.
The glory that is revealed in Christ infinitely outweighs our troubles. It doesn’t invalidate them, and it won’t necessarily make them go away. But Christ surpasses our troubles so that they fade into the background instead of dominating our minds and emotions. Instead, we have hope and joy and perseverance no matter through him.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
