Fixing Our Gaze

I have mentioned before that I absolutely love my devotional, Jesus Calling. There are so many mornings when I feel that He is speaking directly to me in what I read - as if He knew the exact day I would read a certain devotion or verse, and He has catered it specifically to my heart.

Today, I really feel that way.

"You make a practice of judging yourself, based on how you look or behave or feel. If you like what you see in the mirror, you feel a bit more worthy of My Love. When things are going smoothly and your performance seems adequate, you find it easier to believe you are My beloved child. When you feel discouraged, you tend to look inward so you can correct whatever is wrong.
Instead of trying to "fix" yourself, fix your gaze on Me, the Lover of your soul. Rather than using your energy to judge yourself, redirect it to praising Me. Remember that I see you clothed in My righteousness, radiant in My perfect Love."

I had to stop at the very first sentence and stay right there for a few minutes: "You make a practice of judging yourself, based on how you look or behave or feel." There could never be a more direct statement at me...but I'm going to take a big assumption and say that most women fall into this practice. Is it because we feel judged by others that we judge ourselves so severely? I do believe this is part of it (and shame on us for making each other feel this way!). I also believe that we set such unrealistic standards, and when we fall short - which we are bound to do - we take it out on ourselves. And sometimes we do so harshly.

I love how Sarah Young finished this devotion, "Instead of trying to "fix" yourself, fix your gaze on Me, the Lover of your soul." I just LOVE this. When we fix our gaze on Jesus, we are saying He is greater and we are less (John 3:30). We are not allowing ourselves to consume our thoughts; we are choosing to fix our gaze on Him. We are choosing to be consumed with Him.

I don't know about you, but when I am consumed with Him, He not only consumes my thoughts, but He is there in my actions and my words as well. When I allow my gaze to remain on Jesus, who loves me, everything I do and say and how I feel are all simply better. For when my gaze is on Him, my heart is full of Him. And when my heart is full of such goodness, that goodness is bound to come out of me despite all of my own imperfections. When I think of how this affects me as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, as a friend - it makes me all the more excited to spend time alone with my Savior. To become closer to Him, more full of Him, that He comes out of me.

My prayer this morning is that we will stop judging ourselves against unrealistic standards (our own or that of others), and that we will simply focus on Jesus. He loves us with a "Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love."* When we fix our gaze on that beautiful truth, His Love is bound to show up and come out in our own lives. And that is exciting!


*http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com/