His Gaze

"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him..."

Mark 10:21a

His deep brown eyes twinkle when he smiles at me. It gets me every time. And he knows it. Those dark pools of soul-telling, wordless gazes run deep with emotion, devotion, and love. And I know it. It's our silent love language spoken for thirty years.

But when I'm mad or wrong, I avoid his gaze because it tells the truth--of who I am--of who we are, together. And sometimes, I just want to bubble in the stew of lies.

Jesus gazed love. When a rich young man asked Jesus what he could do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said give up everything you own, surrender it all, take up  your cross, and follow me (See Mark 10:17-25). But the rich young man was sad because he had much and didn't want to give it up. He wasn't sure following Jesus was worth risking everything.

But, before the rich young man turned away, Jesus caught his eye. Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus' gaze spoke the soul-telling, wordless truth of unconditional love to the man who's heart was too full of stuff. It was that convincing gaze that we see in our spouses, our children--the one that reassures they still love us even though we've wounded them, disappointed them.

Do you know that gaze? Do you know that unconditional love? Can you look into the eyes of Jesus and surrender everything to know him? Or, do you avoid his gaze to hang onto everything?

Oswald Chambers shares these words concerning Jesus' gaze: "This look of Jesus transforms, penetrates, and captivates. Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you. [Where] you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be in the wrong than you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that have never been transformed by His gaze."

Lord, look upon me with your loving gaze. Captivate me, show me those places in my life that need to be fully surrendered to you. Transform me into you likeness so that there may be nothing between us.