SCRIPTURE:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.”
Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT
OBSERVATION:
Here the writer of the letter to the Hebrew believers—Jews who are following Jesus—is giving them an exhortation to cast off, strip off, to let go of EVERY WEIGHT or ENCUMBRANCE that slows us or trips us up.
Why?...so that they may be able to run...to do this second half of new life in Christ.
To cast off old, invalid ways of pursuing the presence of God. To let go of religiosity and ritual, and run in the freedom that comes from the grace given freely to us.
The Jewish believers in Christ must’ve been vacillating between this new way in Jesus, and time-honored traditions in which God’s people worshipped and served Him.
So how to get them to truly cast off their old ways and run well? The writer simply says, “Keep your eyes on Jesus, the CHAMPION who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Another translation calls Jesus the “author and perfecter of our faith.”
It’s Jesus who authors our faith. It’s Jesus who will make any faith—even a mustard seed of faith—perfect and right for our lives that we also may run with endurance through our new life in Christ.
APPLICATION:
I remember a dear brother in the LORD, his name was Al. He served with me, he was a football coach, a solid barrel of a man, with health issues that came with being so stocky.
We’d have good days. We’ve had really bad ones. But one day he had said, “You know, good or bad, you gotta keep your eyes on Jesus.” He must’ve gone through this part of Hebrews when he said that.
We made it a conversation tag, we’d not engage in a phone call or pass each other through hallways without muttering at the end, “Keep your eyes on Jesus!” We shortened it just saying “Keep yo eyes on Jesus!”
If we were rushing around in passing by we’d go further and just say “Eyes on Jesus!”
It became a source of comfort and reassurance, kind of like setting our spiritual gyroscopes when they slowed down and got a little off balance.
Or it was sometimes like that slap we needed to shake off the dirt that crusted our heart and callousness we were forming.
And it was a reminder in the best of days, that we know who really was the one who set a straight path before us to follow. “Keep yo eyes on Jesus!”
Al had subsequent health challenges which necessitated a heart transplant. Through his pre-op preparation, we continually reminded each other to “Keep yo eyes on Jesus!”
Al passed into eternity a few years ago. He joins the great cloud of witnesses who surround us to this day.
Tho I cannot see him, the words echo in my heart when I am feeling down, stressed, angry, but also when things go well.
I gotta “Keep my eyes on Jesus.”
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, we need You. Not everyone believes this, but the world is in disorder right now, and for we who believe we want to shed all encumbrances so that we may run well.
Help us to keep our eyes on You alone. And thank You for my friend Al.
Amen.
