Looking

"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." (Heb. 12.2)

It is a very simple statement; easy to be understood, 
but hard to put into practice.

Life offers us so many other places to look,
     proffers us so many pathways to walk,
          offers so many "solutions" for our needs,
               dizzies us with so many choices.

David declared, "My heart is fixed." (Ps. 57.7)
Wonderful place to be - a heart fixed "looking unto Jesus." 
Again, Spurgeon's testimony, "I could have almost looked my eyes away."
     What a decision, what a determination,
          what a conviction that in Christ was the answer. 

Fallen mankind has a fixation with trying to understand in order to experience.
     Looking is a far simpler process.
     In looking that which is seen enters the life  far more directly.
     To see, is to absorb what is seen in all its essence,
     without any need of "interpretation."
We say 'now I see,' when the import of a thing becomes clear,
and doubts and misunderstanding fade away.

So how do we find faith, and all the life which God offers us?
The answer is simply by Looking,
     simply letting all our longings find their focus in Jesus,
          simply lifting our eyes to look beyond all our fears, 
               simply gazing beyond whatever tries to stamp itself on our vision.
It is a returning again and again, to the One Who brought us to spiritual birth.
It is a determination not to allow one single thing to claim any place beside Him.

The looking is far from merely seeking that we might comprehend.
In our look, we gaze upon the Source of Life.
We see the fountain flowing out toward us.
We feel the quickening in all our being, of ever-increasing, all-overcoming, 
eternal Life.

                             There is no other Author of Life, 
                     no other sustenance of Life than Jesus.