Fixing my gaze straight ahead...

Hebrews 12:1-2a
“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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus… who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…”

A father and his young son were both in awe of the beauty of the snow that had recently fallen in their yard. The father offered a friendly challenge to his son, asking him to make a straight line through the snow to the nearest tree. The father and son started towards the tree, with the young boy staring down at his feet, making sure to put one foot directly in front of the other. Every few steps he would look up and see that he was going in the wrong direction, and once he righted his wrong step, he would just begin going in another wrong direction. When he finally reached the tree, he looked at his line and saw how absolutely crooked his was. His father, standing beside him at the tree, had made a near perfect straight line to the tree. When he asked his father how his line was so straight, the father replied “I fixed my gaze on the tree and walked straight towards it, with out looking up, down, left or right.”

This story is a perfect example of what the first three verses of Hebrews 12 are encouraging us believers to do. We each have a race “marked out for us” by our Heavenly Father and we’re called to run it with perseverance! If this race (life) were a cross-country race, would we want to put obstacles that don’t need to be there in our way? Absolutely not! We would want our path, although it is destined to have some obstacles in the way, to be clear of any controllable obstructions in our path.

So it is in our faith! It is easy to fall into sin, and the “race” is so long! The author is encouraging us to “throw off everything that hinders” us… if you have some sort of addiction to the internet, install blockers or just stay away from the internet! If you have a problem with something food/drink related, don’t even go near that section in the grocery store! These are the hindrances that lead to us falling way behind in the race…

Just as the son couldn’t walk in a straight line by staring at his feet, so we can’t walk the “straight and narrow” by constantly checking our own walk, being so concerned about stopping a certain sin in our life that we soon discover another sin. The Bible calls us to “fix our eyes on Jesus”! The father walked in a straight line by staring straight at the destination. Living as Christ did is our goal (1 John 2:6), so how else can we walk the straight and narrow? Stare at the destination! Also, Jesus endured the cross and all the trials of this life because of the “joy set before Him.” If you are having trouble trudging through this life, be encouraged! We have a hope and joy set before US- eternal life with the greatest thing to ever be in this earth: Jesus Christ.

I encourage you all to ask God in His mercy and grace to reveal in your life any controllable hindrances that you need to “throw off” so you can run this race in a straight line with perseverance! Also, don’t worry so much about walking a perfectly straight line; focus on Jesus and the “joy set before” us and you will walk as straight as you possibly can. To God be all glory, honor, power, and praise… forever and ever… Amen!