"....Let us lay aside...the sin which so easily ensnares us.., looking unto Jesus." (From Hebrews 12:1, 2)
Victory is in the, "looking." Get my gaze right, and my life will be right.
The word translated, "ensnares," means, "easily surrounds." It really doesn't matter who we are; sin "easily surrounds us." And the frightening reality is, Oh, how, "easily [it does] surround[] us." One of the greatest hindrances to going on in Christ is the refusal to admit this. Such refusal will not only hinder growth, it will set us up for encirclement. But how does one do this? As one translation of Heb. 12:2 tells us, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." Another says, "We must focus on Jesus"; the Wycliffe New Testament says, "beholding into the maker of faith, and the perfect ender, Jesus...." Glorious.
Whatever the depths of, "Looking unto Jesus," this is not what we "do" after we, "lay aside," encircling sin; it is concurrent. "Looking Unto Jesus," is the "method" and power, the "oxygen" of laying aside. Sin cannot rule when, "looking unto Jesus," any more than the violence of the waves could sink Peter while he was walking on the sea, "looking unto Jesus." Eyes off, man down-- Eyes on, man up.
"Looking unto Jesus," literally, "looking away from something/one else to see distinctly," is the overcoming faith victory. Keep the person and words of Jesus always before us; think of Jesus, commune with and in Jesus. Have a continual openness to His Blessed Majesty, Holy Spirit, in His continual witness to us of Jesus. Then, "....and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall."
Father, in Jesus' Name, "Open the eyes of my heart." Amen.
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Peace? How to: www.apf327.blogspot.com
Victory is in the, "looking." Get my gaze right, and my life will be right.
The word translated, "ensnares," means, "easily surrounds." It really doesn't matter who we are; sin "easily surrounds us." And the frightening reality is, Oh, how, "easily [it does] surround[] us." One of the greatest hindrances to going on in Christ is the refusal to admit this. Such refusal will not only hinder growth, it will set us up for encirclement. But how does one do this? As one translation of Heb. 12:2 tells us, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus." Another says, "We must focus on Jesus"; the Wycliffe New Testament says, "beholding into the maker of faith, and the perfect ender, Jesus...." Glorious.
Whatever the depths of, "Looking unto Jesus," this is not what we "do" after we, "lay aside," encircling sin; it is concurrent. "Looking Unto Jesus," is the "method" and power, the "oxygen" of laying aside. Sin cannot rule when, "looking unto Jesus," any more than the violence of the waves could sink Peter while he was walking on the sea, "looking unto Jesus." Eyes off, man down-- Eyes on, man up.
"Looking unto Jesus," literally, "looking away from something/one else to see distinctly," is the overcoming faith victory. Keep the person and words of Jesus always before us; think of Jesus, commune with and in Jesus. Have a continual openness to His Blessed Majesty, Holy Spirit, in His continual witness to us of Jesus. Then, "....and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall."
Father, in Jesus' Name, "Open the eyes of my heart." Amen.
*****************
Peace? How to: www.apf327.blogspot.com
Unreached Peoples: www.apfunreachedpeoples.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
