Eyes of Faith

November 14

(Psalm 123:1-4 NIV) “A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. {2} As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. {3} Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. {4} We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.”

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV) “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. {17} For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. {18} So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

(Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. {2} Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. {3} Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

What we fix our eyes upon will determine our direction. Who we look up to, determines our destiny. If we lift our eyes to God, we will rise. We will ascend to His throne and experience His mercy and glory. We don’t look back and long for Egypt. We don’t look down and love this Earth. We don’t look away and covet what we see. All of those things are temporary. In faith, we fix our eyes on what is unseen. We look up to what is eternal. There will be those who oppose us. The proud and arrogant ridicule our upward look. They doubt our Lord’s existence. They mock our faith. They show contempt for our Lord. But we will fix our eyes on Jesus. We will not tire as we ascend to our Lord. Our spirits are renewed day by day. We will persevere. We lift our eyes to God in heaven, and what we fix our eyes upon will determine our direction. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day