Looking in Jesus’ Eyes

It’s been a very busy season for me. I keep saying, “Next week things will slow down.” Rrrrrrrright. I’ve been saying that for about fifteen years now. Currently we’re in the middle of renovations to our house (they are knocking down a wall today and I hope the upstairs doesn’t fall with it!), it's past time for my son to be potty trained, and I’m teaching a writing class for my little brother and his friends and I have thirteen essays on the “Sea Wasp” to read.

In the midst of this, I was asked to edit a book that’s coming out in a couple of months. It’s a book by my dad, and it’s entitled: Living the Cross Centered Life. I hope some of my comments were helpful to Dad, but I think the real benefit was to my soul. Even though I’ve heard my dad preach countless sermons on this topic, and even though I’ve read his other books on the cross over and over, I still desperately needed to hear this message again.

I often tell my son to “look at mommy’s eyes” when I want to get his attention to tell him something important. By reading this book, I felt as if my heavenly Father was saying to me, “Look in Jesus’ eyes. Take your eyes off the busyness, off your 'trials,' and even off your sin (I’ve paid for that), and be captured once again by the cross. For only one thing is needful. Only one thing matters. And it’s my cross.”

As Dad writes:

“In the midst of our various responsibilities and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one overarching truth should motivate all our work and affect every part of who we are: Christ died for our sins. This…is the main thing. Nothing else—not even things that are biblical and honorable—are of equal or greater importance than this: God sent His Son to the cross to bear His wrath for sinners like you and me. If there’s anything in life we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others; I mean passionate in thinking about the gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world and all of life.”

So how about you? What are you passionate about---is it thinking, reflecting, and rejoicing in the gospel? Does the truth of Christ’s sacrifice for sins on our behalf truly color the way you look at all of life?

To color our worldview with the gospel, we must meditate on the cross. Here’s just one verse that helps me to do that: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Life is full. But I can’t afford to wait until next week when things slow down to meditate on the gospel. I need the truths of the cross to brilliantly color my world right now, today!