Looking unto Jesus

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. - Hebrews 12:2-3

We know already that we are in this race for the long haul. In fact, it is a super marathon that is not going to end until our life on this earth is over. So we might as well get used to it.

But that is easier said than done. We can get worn out in this race. We can get weary. We can get discouraged and distracted and we can feel defeated. Sometimes that finish line seems so far away that we lose sight of it and start focusing on the roughness of the race. Not only that we can get distracted by all the tempting sights along the way. Our eyes can be drawn from the race and we may even step aside from the race to take it easy for a while. When we do that it can be very, very difficult to get back in the race.

But God doesn’t leave us without hope or guidance. As we run the race the ‘author and finisher’ of our faith is there at the finish line compelling us to keep on going.

Our challenge is to keep our eyes not on the distractions and discouragements, but on Jesus. He has already endured all we are going to endure and more.

We must keep on eyes on Him. He started us on this race and He will be there at the finish.

‘Looking unto Jesus’ – oh that we would take it to heart.  Indeed, oh that I could make that the focus of my life looking into the future.