Looking Unto Jesus

Heb 12: 2 is a very familiar scripture for those who have been around Christianity for any amount of time. "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 set down at the right hand of the throne of God". Why do we need to look on Jesus? Well, according to verse one, we all have a race that is set before us and we need to finish it. The race is not a forty yard dash but a marathon which lasts until we die or until Jesus comes back. It's the race of Faith which is clearly defined and displayed in chapter 11 of Hebrews. The word looking in the Greek text means to turn your eyes away from other things and fix them on something else. The object that the verse is exhorting us to fix our eyes upon is Jesus. The Jesus that is the author and finisher of our faith. A faith that required a cross to die upon. A faith that required suffering and hostility from others. A faith that required obedience even unto the point of death. Fix your eyes on the Jesus of the Bible not another Jesus that has been created from fleshly minds. In life it's so easy to fix your eyes on other things. I get discouraged when I fix my eyes on the condition of our nation. I get discouraged when I fix my eyes on the "church" and what it's turned into in our nation and around the world. I get discouraged when I look at my circumstances or when I keep looking at what happened in the past. Just like in a natural race when we lose sight if the object (the finish line) we began to slow down and may even come to a stop. We lose our endurance which is the very thing we need to keep running and to finish the race. Mt 10:22 "And you will be hated by all for my names sake but he who endures to the end shall be saved." Wow, not a common memory verse but one that gets the point across. Endurance means to remain steadfast and to overcome a foe. To finish my thought this morning I would write the following verse. 2 Cor 3:18 - "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (Jesus), are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." The end of the race of faith is for the one who is fixing his eyes to be transformed into the image of Christ. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, His character, His works, His words we will by the power of the Spirit be changed into His image. Hallelujah.