I fell in love with the song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” upon hearing my sister, Miriam, sing it during my teenage years. Indeed, in my opinion, no one can sing like Miriam, and even as I write this, her voice carries the lyrics in my mind’s ear.
Now, as an adult experiencing the trials and sorrows that are “weary and troubled” as well as the joys and laughter of life, I find both a personal challenge and deep comfort in the truths behind the lyrics of this song.
Modern Christians will not find a better illustration of Colossians 3:2, which says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” than in little-known Protestant missionary Lilias Trotter. The life and poetry of Lilias Trotter inspired hymn writer Helen L. Lemmel to pen “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”
The Author
Who was Lilias Trotter? According to Liliastrotter.com, a website kept in her honor, Lilias was raised in London during the Victorian Age and enjoyed a wealthy upbringing that included private tutelage by governesses at home and summer months traveling the continent. Simultaneously a budding, affluent artist and a committed Christian, Lilias spent her time both pursuing art and ministering to the working women and prostitutes of London.
John Ruskin, a prominent British artist of the time, recognized Lilias’s artistic gifts as potentially one of “England’s greatest living talents.” However, Lilias could not wholly “give herself up to art” to achieve the artistic “immortality” Ruskin believed to be at her fingertips. Why not? In her own words in a letter to a friend, “I cannot give myself to painting in the way he means and continue to ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.’”
After this resolution, Lilias threw herself into her mission work — “on things above.” For the next four decades, Lilias pursued bringing the message of Jesus to the people of Algeria. While serving the Algerian Muslims, Lilias wrote a tract entitled, “Focused.” Within the lines of this tract are the words, “Turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.”
According to hymndex.com, in 1918 Helen L. Lemmel received this tract. Inspired by these lines, she wrote the potent lyrics called “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” Just a few short years later, Lemmel incurred a disease leading to her eventual blindness; then, having lost her first husband to death, Lemmel was abandoned by her second husband upon her diagnosis. Nevertheless, Lemmel remained faithful to Jesus, and her words became quite prophetic:
“O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
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.”
Obscure Artist
Today if someone wandered into the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, the Ashmolean Museum, he or she would find beautiful framed works from artists such as Millais, Rosetti, Holman Hunt, and Ford Madox Brown — all disciples of Lilias’s art mentor, John Ruskin. But none of Lilias’s works hang among them. Her works are buried away from the eyes of the world, viewable only by request.
Yet during her 40 years in Algeria, Lilias Trotter established 13 mission stations and pioneered evangelistic methods considered by the Lilias Trotter Legacy Website to be “a hundred years ahead of her time.” Hidden away in the deserts of Algeria, Lilias Trotter made that immortal impact John Ruskin predicted she would — not with her art for her own glory, but with the gospel of Jesus for the glory of the kingdom of God.
Two Women Who Abandoned All for Christ
Two women — one who forsook fame and fortune for the gospel of Jesus, and one forsaken by a husband — both persisted in looking “full in His wonderful face.” Both women possessed spiritual sight gained through much personal sacrifice and loss that eclipsed their earthly sight.
The last line of Lilias’s tract “Focused,” said, “For ‘He is worthy’ to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.”
As we enter into the Christmas season, what a timely reminder: Christ is worthy. He is worthy to have all the things we hold dear in our hearts — the hearts He died to win.
Where’s Your Heart?
What do we hold more dear in our hearts than Jesus? Is it our health or comfort? Our children or spouse? Our talent or money? Maybe it’s our job or status in the community. What am I pretending deserves more honor in my heart than the God who became man, who “loved me and gave Himself up for me”?
Consider Jesus: God, man, Messiah. Consider Jesus: our strength, our shield, our morning song. Consider Jesus: our glorious treasure, our coming King! Consider Jesus: He is worthy!
This Christmas season, let us supplant all earthly things with “His glory and grace,” for He is worthy. May earthly things grow dim and may we “go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell!” How can we do any less for a Savior who gave us “life more abundant and free”?
— Hannah Miller and her husband reside in Inman, S.C., where she homeschools their five children. She is a North Greenville University graduate, biblically trained counselor, and former radio talk show host. Currently, she stays busy teaching horse riding lessons, hosting a podcast titled “The Hannah Miller Show,” and serving as a member of Ridgewood Church in Greer.