December 21 Intentional Eyes

Luke 2:8-9 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
 
ONCE when I was talking with one of my granddaughters, my attention drifted, and my eyes looked away from her face. In response, she put her hands on my face, turned my face to hers, looked me in the eye and said, “Pay attention, Grandpa. I’m talking to you.” It worked. She got my attention, and I was back on track, fully engaged with her.
       How amazing it is! When my eyes looked into her eyes, I heard her words and took them to heart.
       Through the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke 1 & 2, we read of God coming to the priest Zechariah, the virgin Mary and now the common shepherds. Very powerfully, in the form of an angel and then a multitude of angels, God has come in his heavenly glory to put his spiritual hands on the faces of these chosen servants. He has said, “Look at me. I have something you must know.”
       The “glory of the Lord” throughout Scripture testifies of God’s appearance that causes every “knee (to) bow” Romans 14.11) Immediately, the shepherds’ eyes turned from any distractions. Their eyes fearfully, wondrously penetrated upward to see God’s grand perfection appear over his earth, directly onto them. As it happened with every other person in the Bible who experienced God’s clear, profound glory, God’s glory transformed their lives.
       From that night, Luke’s gospel tells us how Jesus grew to minister God’s glory to the world. Through his preaching, his love, his forgiveness, his healing, his sacrificial death, his resurrection and his ascension God’s glory personally penetrated into mankind’s heart to say, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
       Zechariah, Mary and the shepherds listened. Follow their example. Turn your spiritual eyes to gaze intently upon the Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world. He speaks to you his gift of forever life, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.” Revelation 21: 7
      
Prayer: Lord God, move my eyes to gaze upon your glory and listen intently to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.