Turn your eyes upon Jesus
In our last service, during our anniversary celebration, pastors and elders were singing “Turn your eyes upon Jesus”. Although it has been more than a century since the creation of this hymn, nevertheless, did you feel touched when you sang it?
After more than 2 years of the pandemic, those of us who live in Australia can already return to our normal daily lives. However, the impact of this pandemic is ongoing. Keeping a social distance, the infected must follow compulsory quarantine, interrupting our lives consistently. A planned meet-up will need to be canceled abruptly, and a plan B will need to be prepared to substitute the activity which was initially planned, to cater to the changes as more people get infected. Uncertainties bring a lot of inconveniences. We all like to follow our plan, but what should we do when there are unexpected situations?
Technology is getting more and more advanced. Different kinds of resources are more readily available, and we have a lot of different ways to search for help. However, the trouble in people’s daily lives do not seem to have decreased. We seem to always fixate on these problems and hope a suitable solution can resolve each issue so that our lives are smooth going, our jobs are all well. However, problems continue to emerge, whether it occurs in our personal life, family, or career. If we look around, we will notice that problems and challenges always exist. When we encounter these difficulties, what will you do?
Would you be willing to turn your eyes upon Jesus? To sing this hymn might not be the hardest in Sunday’s gathering. Nevertheless, turning our eyes upon Jesus during our daily lives may not be the easiest, because there are many other things, and other methods to take away our attention. So, we need to train ourselves to always look up to him. When we are sick, when our relationships are going through a rough patch, when we feel depressed and not sure what to do. Let us pray to Jesus, search for his guidance and his great accomplishment. When we consistently train ourselves to look up and rely on him, then he will gradually become our God. Problems need to be solved, but our goal is not to focus on solving the issue all by ourselves, but to focus on looking up to Jesus. This is the only way, which must be passed by all disciples.
當轉眼仰望耶穌
上個主日，在堂慶崇拜中，教牧和長老團隊獻詩--當轉眼仰望耶穌。雖然距離這首詩歌的最初創作，已經一百多年過去了，然而，今天唱起它，是否仍然讓人心裡感動呢？
經歷了2年多的疫情以後，居住在澳洲的我們，已經可以恢復日常生活。但是，疫情的影響並未完全消退。保持社交距離，感染者必須隔離，時時影響我們的生活。也許是原來訂好的會面，不得不臨時取消；安排的活動，需要預備plan B，以防若有人感染而造成過多變動。不確定性引起很多的不便。我們喜歡一切按照計劃進行，當總是有意外情況發生的時候，我們要怎麼辦？
科技越來越發達，各種的資源也越來越多，我們有許多的渠道可以尋求幫助，但是好像人們生活的煩惱，一點也沒有減少。我們似乎總是在圍繞著各種問題打轉，希望能夠有合適的方法，把問題都一一解決，生活順利，事工也順利。只是，各種的問題層出不窮，無論是個人生活中的，家庭裡的，事工裡的，我們若環顧四周，就會發現，問題和挑戰總是存在著。當遭遇這些艱難的時候，你會怎麼辦？
你願意轉眼仰望耶穌嗎？在周日的聚會中，一起唱這樣一首詩歌也許不是最難，然而在平時的日常生活中，轉眼仰望耶穌，卻可能並不容易，因為有太多別的事物、別的方法，會奪去我們的目光。然而，我們最需要操練的，是常常仰望他。在生病的時候；在夫妻關係遇到問題的時候；在心情抑鬱不知道應該怎麼辦的時候，讓我們來向耶穌禱告，尋求他的指引和他的作為；當我們這樣常常操練仰望倚靠他的時候，他才漸漸地真正地成為了我們的主。問題需要解決，但是我們的目標，不是竭力地解決問題，而是竭力地仰望耶穌。這是身為基督的門徒，所必經之路。
