The Eyes of Jesus

Meditations for Ragamuffins

September 15, 2023

The Eyes of Jesus

At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

Luke 22:61

In the next verse, Luke tells us that “Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly” (Luke 22:62). I believe Peter’s tears flowed not because of what he saw in Jesus’ eyes, but because of what Peter saw in himself. In time, what Peter saw in the eyes of Jesus gave him the courage to face his own insecurities, fears, and failures. What do you think Peter saw in Jesus’ eyes?

I suspect Peter caught the pure essence of Brennan Manning’s description of God’s love for us: “God loves us unconditionally, just as we are; not as we should be. Because no one is as they should be.” (All is Grace by Brennan Manning) As we allow God to draw us closer to His heart where we can experience His unconditional love for us, just as we are, we are empowered by His grace to live out his primary commandment for our lives: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35).

The hardest task for a follower of Jesus is to become willing to let go of our fears, our insecurities, our need to be in control, and submit our lives wholly and without reservation to God. The only way we can do this is to trust God with our lives, and our trusting God is preceded by our loving God. Our loving God is preceded by God first loving us and touching us with his redeeming grace. When God touches us, we look into the eyes of Jesus and behold Peter’s vision of God’s unconditional love.

My Takeaway: Peter may have run from the courtyard weeping, but several days later his recollection of what he saw in the eyes of Jesus would cause him to jump into the water and swim to Jesus when he saw the Lord on the beach. (John 21) As we allow God to touch our lives, we will behold love and acceptance in the eyes of Jesus. The more we look into the eyes of Jesus, the more we become willing to surrender control of our lives to the One who loves us so completely.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.