"Looking unto Jesus" Hebrews 12:2
I have read of a great artist who made it a practice to keep a number of beautiful gems on his easel. The sparkling colors of these sapphires, emeralds, and rubies always caught the eye of his patrons. When asked the reason for keeping the jewels in such an odd place, he replied that there was a danger of his paints becoming faded by usage, and his eye getting toned down so that the tints on his canvases would lose their brilliance. Therefore he kept his eyes toned up by constantly referring to the original colors of these jewels which never fade.
There is a lesson for all of us in this story. We too are in danger of toning down our spiritual perception by looking at earthly things - things which fade. How important it is, therefore, to keep our eyes on Jesus. Let us gaze often into His face, for the brilliance of the crucified yet ever living Christ will tone up our spiritual vision and intoxicate our whole heart and life. This will help us to "walk even as He walked." Let us never tone down or allow our vision to grow dim. When we look at human fraility and earthly trial, it is so easy to "cast away our confidence," but if we "look to Jesus" our spiritual perception is heightened and our faith strengthened.
It is said that when Blondin, the great tight-rope walker, crossed the Niagara on a thin cable suspended high above the falls, he always had a star fixed on the opposite side to which he glued his eye. Had he looked down at the roaring cataract, fear might have crept into his heart, resulting in catastrophe; but by fixing his attention on the object at the end of the wire he found no difficulty in walking safely across the narrow cable. We too are not to look at circumstances but keep our eyes on Jesus. If we do, we will have no difficulty in walking the "narrow way."
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