Looking Unto Jesus
Theodore Monod (1836–1921) was a French pastor, author, and hymn-writer. Monod was the son of a Reformed minister. He served as pastor of the Chapelle du Nord and the Reformed Church in Paris and was an agent for Home Missions in France. He wrote Life More Abundant and hymns such as, “O the Bitter Shame and Sorrow” and “On Thee My Heart is Resting.”
Theodore Monod writes in a brief, but poignant pamphlet called Looking Unto Jesus:
Looking unto Jesus—"The Author and the Finisher of our faith." That is to say—He Who is its pattern and its source, even as He is its object; and Who from the first step even to the last, marches at the head of the believers; so that by Him our faith may be inspired, encouraged, sustained, and led on to its supreme consummation (Hebrews 12:2).
Looking unto Jesus—and at nothing else, as our text at the same time directs us to fix our gaze upon Him, and to turn it away from everything else.
Looking unto Jesus—and not at ourselves, our thoughts, our reasonings, our imaginings, our inclinations, our wishes, our plans.
Looking unto Jesus—and not at the world, its customs, its example, its rules, its judgments.
Looking unto Jesus—and not at Satan, though he seeks to terrify us by his fury, or to entice us by his flatteries. Oh! from how many useless questions we would save ourselves, from how many disturbing scruples, from how much loss of time, dangerous dallyings with evil, waste of energy, empty dreams, bitter disappointments, sorrowful struggles, and distressing falls—by looking steadily unto Jesus, and by following Him wherever He may lead us. Then we shall be too much occupied with not losing sight of the path which He marks out for us, to waste even a glance on those paths in which He does not think it suitable to lead us.
Looking unto Jesus—and not at our creeds, no matter how evangelical they may be. The faith which saves, which sanctifies, and which comforts, is not giving assent to the doctrine of salvation—it is being united to the person of the Savior. "It is not enough," said one, "to know about Jesus Christ—it is necessary to have Jesus Christ." No one truly knows Him, if he does not first possess Him. According to the profound saying of the beloved disciple, it is in the Life there is Light, and it is in Jesus there is Life (John 1:4).
Looking unto Jesus—and not at our meditations and our prayers, our pious conversations and our profitable reading, the holy meetings that we attend, nor even to our taking part in the supper of the Lord. Let us faithfully use all these means of grace, but without confusing them with grace itself; and without turning our gaze away from Him Who alone makes them effectual, when, by their means, He reveals Himself to us.