What is the best way to walk a really straight line? If a farmer wants to plow a straight line, how can he make sure that the furrows are straight, and not veering off at an angle? The best way is to keep your eyes focused on a single object off in the distance. Keep walking towards the object, eyes steadily on that point. If you look around at other things, or down at your feet, your path will be crooked. In our Scripture for today, we read the instruction of what to keep our eyes on in order to successfully go through life.
In the Book of Hebrews we find a very well-known chapter, just prior to our passage, which is sometimes referred to as Faith’s Hall of Fame. Each of the people who are listed in Hebrews 11 were believers and followers of God, who had genuine faith that persevered to the end (vs. 39-40). They continued to believe the truth, in spite of harsh circumstances and trials in their life. God’s Word lists them as examples for us to pattern our life after. What helped and encouraged these believers to continue on in their walk of faith? They kept their eyes on the Lord. He is the Supreme One to follow, especially when we consider all that He endured in His life.
As we continue our brief Scripture passage, the author of Hebrews also compares the Christian life to running a race. Most of us have seen races, whether at school sporting events or when watching the Olympics. The runners in the race do not load themselves down with weights. If they want to win, which would be their goal, they don’t run with backpacks filled with bricks! They also want to make sure the running path is free from anything that could trip them or get tangled around their feet. The Christian life can be weighed down by excess baggage, such as worries or our past. As we will all find, sin is something that will trip us up throughout life. God’s Word urges us to lay aside that weight (vs. 1). We need to cast that weight onto Jesus, and then our burdens will be lighter, and the race easier (I Peter 5:7).
Another thing about runners, particularly for those who run marathons, is that runners in a race cannot set their own course. Doing so will disqualify them. If, when running a marathon, the runner decides to go off the designated path because it might seem easier and quicker, that runner is disqualified. They cannot pick the route. In like manner, we must run the race that God sets for us, not one we pick out for ourselves.
Running a race can be exhausting, and one thing that helps the athlete is to focus on the finish line. He needs endurance, that steady determination to keep going, regardless of the temptation to slow down or give up. When we’ve exhausted our resources, and life’s struggles are too much, we need to focus on the finish, and run the race with endurance. As mentioned at the start, keep the eyes focused on the goal, and in the case of a race, it is the finish line. In the life of the Christian we are to keep our eyes focused on Jesus.
Satan will try to get us to look at ourselves and other people, and that will only cause us to stumble and perhaps outright fall. When we are trying to reach a goal, looking only at our feet will make us veer off course. The best way to go straight towards something is to keep looking at it. Our goal is heaven and having a life more like the Savior. We need to focus on that destination, Jesus Christ, and look only to Him.
Our trials may seem heavy and hard, but when we look to Jesus, and we consider what He went through on that Good Friday, the brutal crucifixion, and the taunting and shame of that whole day, what we are bearing is nothing compared to what He endured (vs. 2). He looked beyond the cross to see the joy that was before Him, the knowledge that His death would bring salvation to the world.
Jesus is the supreme example of willingness to suffer in obedience to God. He faced hostility, and endured the cross. We are not the first to struggle with problems we face. Others have run the race and won, and their witness should stir us to run and win also.
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