TURN YOUR EYES

About 35 years ago now, a touring music group came to Our Saviour’s Baptist Church. They sang a song I had never heard:

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

Those words have stuck with me ever since. I find it a daily challenge to live by them, especially in these times. Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe."

In the movie, Dragonfly, there’s a scene toward the beginning where one character is giving a eulogy for her sister who died on a mission trip in South America. She said, “We are here to celebrate a unique life, not so much taken from us as given to us.”

It would be easy right now to focus on all that has been taken from us. But what an incredible Christmas gift we’ve been given! That’s what I want to celebrate. May we turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and worship God with reverence and awe this season.

Char Haake

VERSE OF THE DAY

Matthew 1:18-21

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, f because he will save his people from their sins.”

QUESTION

Joseph didn't know what the angel meant or how Jesus would one day save people. But he still obeyed. Is it any easier for us to obey, now that we know more? What still takes faith? What is the hardest to believe and why?