Fix Our Eyes Upon Jesus

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREW

FIX OUR EYES UPON JESUS

Heb 12:1-3

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 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. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

NIV

We have the witnesses, and we are throwing off that which hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us. We are also running the race that has been marked out for us, and now it is time to fix our eyes on Jesus. It seems to us that we have been focusing on ourselves up to now because we have been paying attention, listening to all those witnesses and so busy throwing off all that stuff, looking into ourselves, finding that which hinders us, and spending all that time trying to get rid of sin, working, doing good things, keeping involved, attempting to be a “Good Christian”, that we may have lost sight of where our eyes should be focused. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, the one who is the author and perfecter of our faith then we should not be so introspective, thinking it is all up to us to be the best we can be. If we are honest with ourselves, we cannot make it on our own. If we look within, we will see our weakness and inability to do all that we are supposed to do, but if we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can live by faith because faith is a gift from God. We are told that God gives every man a measure of faith. Jesus is the author of our faith. Without Jesus, we cannot have faith. We humans, when alone, cannot have any faith, Jesus is the author of our faith, he gives it to us, and he perfects our faith. We cannot even increase in faith alone apart from Jesus. Jesus is the one who sent the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins and need to repent, to change the way we think about everything, but mostly about sinful selves and our need for Jesus. We cannot convict ourselves, we cannot save ourselves, we cannot run the race ourselves, we always need to fix our eyes on Jesus. Speaking personally, even before knowing Jesus, as a high schooler, having to run track, doing the hurdles, I would stumble on the last hurdle every time, until the coach made me focus on him at the finish line, and when I did, I was able to run the race completely. Never did I imagine the life lesson I learned and could apply to the race marked out for us. We need to focus our eyes on Jesus at the finish line. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will throw off everything else, for the only one and truth in our lives is Jesus. It seems simple enough to fix our eyes on Jesus, but we also know there is so much in this world that screams for our vision. “Look at this”, “Hey, this is interesting”, “Wouldn’t you like this, or that?” “Come see what is available”. “We have a lot for you to look and lust after”. It is all there, right in front of us so we can feast our eyes upon all of it. But then we remember, that we need to fix our eyes on Jesus. When we turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, all the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace