“Pursue Me,” the Lord whispered in my heart.

Considering this call, I remembered that we humans tend to follow our eyes. We are drawn toward the object of our viewing, hence the great care and money advertisers put into visual imagery.

I wondered, has the Lord not been the object of my viewing?

“Eyes on the prize,” says the world. Nowhere else is this worn but worthy cliché more vividly displayed than in the rodeo arena. Young bull riders are cautioned not to look at the ground when they’re strapped to the shifting hide of a snot-slinging bovine.

Why?

Because that’s where they’ll end up—on the ground. Their bodies will follow their focus, so they tuck their chins and lock eyes on that hairy hump just above their fistful of bull rope.

The principle applies to our spirit. We lean toward that upon which we are focused. And so the Lord says, “Pursue Me.”

The prophet Isaiah heard similar words from God:

“Look to me and be saved.” —Isaiah 45:22

“But Lord,” I cry. “I’m so busy running after my personal goals.”

No wonder I’m confused, dismayed, frightened. Where did I get off track? Where did I turn aside and lose sight of Him? When did gold, gusto and glory blind me to His leading?

Helen H. Lemmel got it right:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Thank you, Lord, for not giving up on me.