“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

Fix Our Eyes

My mother had a bad habit of looking back to say something while walking forward. Because of this on more than one occasion, she ended up in pain, and once in the hospital. We were out of town visiting with my sister at her college dormitory. Mother looked back to say something while walking down the stairs. Her foot missed the step and down she went—breaking her arm along the way.

My dad would get so upset with her, reminding her, my sister and me that if your feet are moving forward, that is where your eyes are to be set: looking forward! “Fix your eyes and your feet will follow. Your feet will go toward where your eyes are fixed. Keep your eyes steady on the destination. Do not look down, left, or right. Most certainly do not look back!”

Storms are inevitable. Storms are unpredictable, often coming without warning. Storms can be good and water a dry and thirsty land and fill lakes and streams. But storms can be furious, unrelenting, destructive, and terrifying. Storms can be a weather prediction—or a non-weather-related, emotional event.

These internal storms can be just as furious, unrelenting, destructive, and terrifying. Isaiah 43:2 reminds us that “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.”

In the pictures we often see of Jesus in the midst of the storm, He is  always reaching out as if to say, “Focus on Me, not the storm.” Storms create fear—fear of the unknown, fear of not being in control, and fear of losing what we have held tightly that brought security. Storms make us feel insecure. We lose our sure footing and begin to wobble, and the bridge begins to swing back and forth. We must fix our eyes on Jesus to find that narrow road.

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus warned us: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”

Help us, Father, to fix our eyes and focus not on the unrelenting storms of this temporal world, but on Jesus. Lead us on the narrow road that leads to the indescribable beauty and joy that await us in the eternity prepared for us in the Eternal Kingdom.