“Fixing our eyes on JESUS the Author & Finisher of our faith “, Hebrews 12:2
My eyes don’t work very well. Some say it’s because I’ve spent too long looking too hard for chocolate. I don’t know. But there’s an eye condition I wish I had. I wish I were cross-eyed! And I wish you were, too. Not the kind of cross-eyed where your eyes point at each other, but the kind that this Scripture talks about, to see all of life in the context of Christ’s conquest on the cross. To have our eyes fixed on JESUS and what He did on the cross for us. In the previous chapter, we’re given a long list of all that the early Believers have suffered because of their faith that a rescuer was coming. They refused to accept anyone else’s false promises to save them from the results of this sin-filled life and to deliver them safely Home to GOD in the life to come. In our verse today we’re told that they were looking for the One neither they nor we can do without, JESUS. JESUS set the example by looking past His suffering and death to the Life He earned for Himself and on our behalf. And in His Name we can get through anything this world throws at us if we keep our eyes on Him. People who would be glad to destroy us as enemies look like simple fellow sinners when we look at them with the cross in our hearts. We find the strength JESUS sent with the Holy Spirit to pray for them instead of hating, fearing or envying them. We see them as His creation not our enemies. Pleasures of this world are seen as the dangerous distractions they are They are detours, pretty paths that are passing away and can’t be compared to the Father of All Comfort. Looking at JESUS through the cross we can see the joy He has for us to share forever if we don’t let the momentary distract us from the momentous.
The word for the joy JESUS earned for Himself and for us is described elsewhere as that shouting, dancing, singing holiday kind of joy. There’s a party in Paradise and we are invited by the Guest of Honor. Don’t miss out by not looking for Him.
Problems of this life that seem so huge and dangerous are just blurs in our peripheral vision when we stare at JESUS instead of our fears. He has already promised to get us through the worst anything in all creation can do to us. JESUS is our path to peace in any storm. Peter learned this walking on the water. No wave of worry or lightning of loss can get hold of our minds or imaginations if we keep staring at JESUS through it all. The word for fixing our eyes means to stare, like when the enemies of JESUS tried to stare Him down or those who were waiting for healing stared expectantly at Him. We stare at JESUS today when we pray, praise and concentrate on Him. Staring is never rude when you do it in love and you’ll find JESUS is gazing at you in love all the while. May we be “cross-eyed” seeing everyone and everything in light of JESUS purchasing eternal joy for us in spite of us putting Him to death with our sins. And when He wipes every tear from our eyes , and we see Him as He is, the smile in His eyes will make it all worthwhile.
