TAKE YOUR EYES OFF YOUR “SELF"

There is no doubt that God’s word is “ye and amen. We serve a God that cannot lie. The bible says it is impossible for Him to lie. So knowing all of this, why do we as born-again believers often have no faith or why does our faith level fluctuate so badly so often? Indeed it wavers so badly that sometimes we have made decisions that have destroyed others, hurt us and even ended a life: all because we were in the “lows” of our faith yet we study the word and worship Him seriously and often.

I have realized that we are very confident when our eyes are on Jesus. As we look on Him, we see His power and ability to do whatever He has said. There must also be power flowing from Him which we receive just by setting our eyes on Him. No wonder God said to Joshua not to let the words of the law depart from before his eyes; so that he could have good success. The word of the law is the book of life which is also Jesus Christ. That must also have been the reason Peter told the beggar at the beautiful gate to look on them as they prayed for his healing and he was healed. As he looked upon them, he must have seen the power of Jesus as it flowed from them. However, when our eyes are turned on us, we see ourselves thereby shortening our sight and making it impossible for us to have good success.

Success is different from good success. Good success is when one attains to the very height that God destined for that person and that requires faith and vision is very important for faith. Obviously, we can’t succeed beyond what our spiritual eyes see. The truth is that very few believers will deliberately set out to see self; seeing as that we know the consequences. It is for several different reasons that we take our focus off Jesus. It is true that some of us are downright selfish and others are proud and arrogant; but for some others it could be the fact that people always take advantage of them or do hurtful things to them making it necessary for them to protect themselves thereby setting their eyes on “self”. Whilst we should love ourselves, I feel an urgent need to sound a note of warning because “self-love” can easily become a tool in the hand of satan to drive us to the place where our vision is shortened thereby ensuring that we are unable to attain to the fullness of who God made us to be.

Romans 12: 3NKJ “for I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think”

Of course there will always be reasons and arguments for our stance but they are all excuses. We must learn that the fact that we have reasons for doing whatever we do does not make it right. You may have thought it through logically before you arrived at a decision and yet you arrived at the wrong decision. Any decision that ends up making you the object of your focus will eventually get you into trouble. It is true that we should love ourselves but enough to submit to God. Take your eyes off self and even off others and set them on Jesus if you must attain to the heights that God has called you to. The only reason Peter could walk on water was because his eyes were on Jesus.

Isaiah 5: 21 “what sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”

If your eyes remain on you long enough, you will see yourself bigger and smarter than all: though that may not have been your objective in the beginning. Is that what you want?