The Gaze

Sitting in Biology, my eyes wandered past my professor an down to the students sitting in the front row. As my eyes grazed over heads, suddenly a head turned, and a pair of eyes was gazing into my own. Startled, I just kept looking at the guy. In a lecture room filled with students, a person had looked back (generally not done) at the same exact time I looked at him. Finally, he looked away, but the occurance got me thinking.

As we go through our day, do we realize that the God of the Universeis constantly gazing at us?

The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)

The Righteous Judge, the Perfect One, is gazing at us when we're falling asleep in class, when we're having deep conversations about sloths with our friends, when we're falling into our beds, when we walked by and ignored that awkward person trying to avoid them, when we let a four letter word fall from our lips, and when we choose to play a game rather than spend time with Him. A little unsettling, isn't it? Should it be? If we lived with this constant awareness that Christ was gazing at us all the time, would we do half of the things we do? Would we do more of the things that we ought to do? I think so. If this idea seems unsettling to you, I admonish you to look at the way you're living your life and see if you'd want Christ to see you blowing Him off -- the God of the Universe! Because, frankly, He is seeing you blow Him off.

Having Christ gazing at us, doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, a negative thing. It should be comforting and relieving to know that no matter what we do, we cannot run from God. That no matter where we are, God is there with us. We are never alone. I was very lonely during my high school years, but if we live our lives recognizing the presence of our Savior, it's ridiculous to even think that loneliness exists. This is a beautiful thing.

I encourage you to read Psalm 139. It's well worth it. Having the gaze of God upon us is both unnerving and so amazingly comforting. I know I'm not there yet, but I will seek to live my life in the knowledge that God is ever-present.