"....By patience run we to the battle purposed to us, beholding into the maker of faith, and the perfect ender, Jesus, [Who] suffered the cross...." (Hebrews 12:1, 2-- Wycliffe New Testament)
Right after reading of the great People of Faith in Hebrews 11, the Holy Spirit now says there is someone greater to behold. Now run your race, "beholding into...Jesus."
Right after reading of the great People of Faith in Hebrews 11, the Holy Spirit now says there is someone greater to behold. Now run your race, "beholding into...Jesus."
The phrase translated, "beholding into," literally means to, "look away from." There is a very real sense here that we, "look away from," as we are, "looking into." An old hymn says, "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." Now the more "spiritual" among us would never admit to this, and though we may not "sense" it, the reality of the temptation is there every day. Why else would the Holy Spirit call us to, "Look away from to Jesus"? There must be something/someone who will always be there from whom/what we need to, "look away from." Our eyes are the entrance to our soul, our spirit. To what and whom we "stare" inevitably will be at least a distraction, and at worse, our god.
Our command to live, "Looking unto Jesus," is a (excuse the presumption here) very wise command. We are commanded to look to the One Who is the only completely Selfless Being in the Universe. Anyone and anything else we "look to" has issues, yes, that includes you and me. From Mother Theresa to that person in your life whom you see as the most important, the most influential, none are as Jesus, Who alone is pure; only Jesus is, "the maker of faith, and the perfect ender...." This in no way minimizes importance of the Hebrews 11 people or the people of faith who have been and/or are in our lives. But our text commands our focus, our gaze, "Look away from to Jesus," Who Alone is our Savior. "Look away from (all others) to Jesus," Who Alone, "bore our sins in His Own Body on the tree," and Whose Blood Alone, "can make the foulest clean," Whose Blood Alone "availed for me."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I am ever amazed just how limitless are Your Words. When I think I have drained them, there is more, Oh, so very much more. Amen.
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Dangers facing the European Union--and the USA at: www.apf327.blogspot.com
Our command to live, "Looking unto Jesus," is a (excuse the presumption here) very wise command. We are commanded to look to the One Who is the only completely Selfless Being in the Universe. Anyone and anything else we "look to" has issues, yes, that includes you and me. From Mother Theresa to that person in your life whom you see as the most important, the most influential, none are as Jesus, Who alone is pure; only Jesus is, "the maker of faith, and the perfect ender...." This in no way minimizes importance of the Hebrews 11 people or the people of faith who have been and/or are in our lives. But our text commands our focus, our gaze, "Look away from to Jesus," Who Alone is our Savior. "Look away from (all others) to Jesus," Who Alone, "bore our sins in His Own Body on the tree," and Whose Blood Alone, "can make the foulest clean," Whose Blood Alone "availed for me."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I am ever amazed just how limitless are Your Words. When I think I have drained them, there is more, Oh, so very much more. Amen.
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Dangers facing the European Union--and the USA at: www.apf327.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
