Christians have been charged to deliberately fix their eyes on Jesus in the face of life’s storms, with the assurance that any help sought outside God is ultimately empty.
The charge was given by Professor Sunday Isehunwa of the University of Ibadan while speaking at the Hospital Chapel, National Hospital, Abuja, during the ongoing Prayer Week.
Drawing his text from Hebrews 12:1–2, Psalm 121:1–2 and Psalm 34:5, Prof. Isehunwa reminded worshippers that God remains the ultimate source of help and direction, urging believers across age, class and background to look unto Him without discrimination.
“All the ends of the earth are invited to look unto God,” he said, citing Isaiah 45:22–25. “Whatever your social status, whatever your situation, you can look unto Him. Whatever you cannot get from God, you cannot get anywhere else.”
He stressed that while God uses disciplers and mentors, Jesus remains the only true reference point for the Christian faith on whom all should fix their eyes.
“God did not make any apostle or prophet the reference point. Jesus is,” he said, adding that any discipler worth following must himself be following Christ, referencing Paul’s admonition to believers to follow him as he followed Christ.
The University of Ibadan don also drew parallels from the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness, when some were bitten by serpents because of disobedience. He recalled how Moses was instructed to lift a bronze serpent on a pole, and that all who looked upon it were healed.
He likened this to Jesus on the cross, asserting that all who look unto Him will receive help, regardless of the issues confronting them.
While affirming that God in times past projected prophets as examples, he noted that since the incarnation of Christ, God expects all people to look unto and fix their eyes on Jesus.
Referencing the account of Jesus walking on water in Matthew 14:22–32, he recalled how Peter walked on the sea while his eyes were fixed on Jesus, but began to sink when he focused on the raging wind.
“Progress is not in looking at the soldiers of the devil,” he said. “It is in fixing your eyes on Jesus. When your eyes are on Him, you will not sink.”
However, he noted that for anyone to truly look, such a person must first have sight. He told the congregation that many believers have lost their spiritual vision and called for prayers for the restoration of sight in three dimensions: hindsight, insight and foresight.
Hindsight, he explained, is the ability to look back; insight, to rightly see the present; and foresight, to perceive the future.
He added that God would not only restore spiritual vision but could also heal physical eyesight, as worshippers fixed their gaze on Christ.
