Hebrews 12-13

December 18

Hebrews 12-13

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2, NIV)

 

Have you ever noticed that you can be in a room full of people, full of furniture, full of knick knacks, full of all kinds of stimuli, but you only really focus on one or two things at a time. If you focus on one person, the couch they are sitting on fades to the background. Of if you focus on the couch the person is in the background. In life,  there are all kinds of stimuli calling for our attention. Many of these call us off the road we are traveling toward Christlikeness. There are distractions the divert our attention, there are temptations that pull us in another direction, there are even good things that are not God’s best for us that may send us off course.

 

The only cure for all the diversions is to fix our eyes on Jesus. If we keep Him as our focal point all the other things of life will fall in line where they belong. When choices come, if we focus on Jesus’ calling on our lives, His desires for our lives, we will stay the course. If we allow our self centeredness to arise, if we focus on self instead of on Jesus, we may easily get off course. When we get off course, God brings discipline, not as a means of beating us down, but as a means of bringing correction. God wants us to live our lives for Him. He created us and knows what is best for us.

 

Jesus died on the cross to give us life full and fulfilled. After He rose from the dead He sat at the right hand of the Father. He intercedes for us and cheers us on as we persevere, running the race marked out for us. So “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,” fix your eyes on Jesus and keep running until you receive your crown of righteousness in Glory.