Fix your eyes on Jesus only

"One's ultimate loyalty must converge at a single point. To try to go two ways at once will rip a person down the middle." (Vernard Eller) * * * * * Jesus to Martha: "Only one thing is necessary" (Luke 10:42) * * * * * "What is that one thing? Surely it is that God be loved and praised for Himself above all other occupations of the body or soul." (The Cloud of Unknowing) * * * * * . . . Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown! ("Fairest Lord Jesus," 17th century) * * * * * "The secret of successful Christians has been that they had a sweet madness for Jesus about them." (A.W. Tozer) * * * * * Jesus Christ is Square One, and anything not related to Him is ultimately meaningless and futile. * * * * * "Believers may not often realize it, but even as believers we are either centered on God or centered on man. "There is no alternative. Either God has become the center of our universe and we have become rightly adjusted to Him, or we have made ourselves the center, and are attempting to make everything else orbit around us and for us." (Paul Fromke) * * * * * Dr. Henry Drummond to his theological students: "Don't touch Christianity unless you plan to make Him first. If you put Him second, I promise you a miserable existence." * * * * * Were I possessor of the earth And call'd the stars my own, Without Thy graces and Thyself I were a wretch undone. Let others stretch their arms like seas And grasp in all the shore: Grant me the visits of Thy face, And I desire no more."1 * * * * * "Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." (St. Augustine, fifth century) * * * * * "Every day I see again that only You can teach me to pray, only You can set my heart at rest, only You can let me dwell in Your presence. "No book, no idea, no concept or theory will ever bring me close to You unless You Yourself are the One who lets these instruments become the way to You." (Henri J.M. Nouwen) * * * * * "I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven." (Psalm 123:1) * * * * * "As to other gods I am an atheist, but as to God the Son Who came forth from Him and taught us these things, I worship and adore Him." (Justin Martyr, second century) * * * * * Glorious God, It is the flame of my life to worship thee, the crown and glory of my soul to adore thee, heavenly pleasure to approach. (Old Puritan prayer) * * * * * "I am A and Z, the First and Last!" (Jesus Christ, Revelation 1:11, TLB) * * * * * "Lift up your heart unto God, then, with a meek and longing love; let there be but a naked intent unto God alone." (The Cloud of Unknowing) * * * * * None other lamb, none other Name, None other Hope in heaven or earth or sea, None other Hiding Place from guilt and shame -- None beside Thee! (Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894) _________ 1. (I copied this 1827 poem as I saw it embroidered, framed, and hanging on a wall of Crathes Castle in northern Scotland.) Quotations above: Vernard Eller from The Simple Life, p.24. "What is that one thing," etc.: The Cloud of Unknowing, p.75. Fragment of hymn "Fairest Lord Jesus," from Gesangbüch, Munster, 1677; tr. anonymous 1850. Henri Nouwen from Job and Shawchuck's A Guide to Prayer, p. 119; quotation from Nouwen's A Cry for Mercy.