By Robert Halsey Pine
“My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.” (Psalm 25 NRSV).
I was fortunate to have heard Canon Bryan Green speak several times when he came to the United States on a Mission trip from his home in England several years ago. There is one thing in particular that he said that has stuck with me. At the end of one of his talks on how to grow as a Christian, Canon Green said in so many words that if we didn’t remember anything else that he had said we should remember one thing. If we do nothing else, he said, “Keep your eyes on Christ!”
Our weakness in our relationship with the Lord is lack of focus. We think there is not enough time for everything else in our lives if we stay focused on God through Christ all of the time. Keeping our eyes on Christ is not to the exclusion of anything else. It is to put Jesus in everything that we experience. As we interact with people and experience situations in the natural world, we fancy ourselves as bringing something special about us to the table. We should bring the ultimate specialty with us, Christ Jesus.
We don’t have to mention His name. If our eyes are on Him, our actions and reactions will say it all. People will know that there is something special going on. Even if they are disturbed with us about something, with our eyes on Jesus we change the unchangeable. With our eyes on Christ, His image can be seen in our eyes by all around us. Our actions will speak loud through His words. You say, “Oh, that’s simple! I have no other concern to keep up with. I just keep looking at Jesus.” Well then, isn’t life going to be great now?
The challenge is to keep our focus. We give up to the natural world too easily. Our focus is blurred by problems at work, personal financial problems, the position we didn’t get, obsession with worldly trinkets, personal addictions, demanding friends and relatives, the death of someone close. David says in verses 8-10 of this Psalm (25): “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore, he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.”
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South. He may be contacted at piousbob@gmail.com.