“ let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, “
If we were to sit before Jesus right now we might want to ask Him.
How did you endure becoming Servant, endure the humiliation that befell you as a man, endure for 33 years the limitations that life on earth had, endure the season of being curtailed and limited, and the obvious question the pain of the cross?
We might then move to sit before any one of us, in this season especially, and say:
How do you endure what life in this world throws at you, endure stress, endure being curtailed, endure limitations imposed upon you, endure the pain in your life.
The common words of hope comes from the verse above in Hebrews ‘ for the joy that is set before.’
Just as Jesus trusted the future to His Father, ‘Your will not mine’, we can because of our faith and belief, be at peace and have joy in what lies before us.
Our prayer might be to wake up the joy in us and open our eyes and ears to grasp our future.
It is important to know that now is transient.
Just as what has happened in our past and historically has gone and so too will our temporal life span eventually but our place in eternity where our sights can become anchored in joy.
Anchoring ourselves beyond the here and now is the hope we know as Christians because that is Christ’s kingdom.
There is a falsity to trying to anchor too tightly down to where our feet stand now we need to throw it forward and up and anchor into the kingdom so that the kingdom life can commence right now in this life and go on into eternity.
We can pray and decree ourselves into being part of that unshakable eternal kingdom and draw others towards it too.
We have the ability to see less of the minute before us and more of the macro of infinity and like John begin to have a vision of what heaven holds for us.
God’s view point can shape our joy and lift us above what may now surround us.
Eternity and heaven are not ungraspable ethereal dreams.
We have the mind of Christ.
The veil has been lifted from our faces.
We can pray to see that which is supernatural.
We can fix our eyes upon that which is unseen.
Gods eyes are to the future.
God does not mind us spending some time in discomfort if it brings us to a realisation that we need to look up and beyond.
He wants us to set our hearts on and anchor ourselves in Jesus and eternity.
The illustration shows our anchor pulled up from what we see in the natural at our feet and cast upwards and forwards towards what is unseen in heaven and eternity where our hope lies.
Four scriptures that come to mind:
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”Hebrews 12:1-2
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”John 14:3 ESV
The song Fix your Eyes. Anabeth Morganhttps://youtu.be/45LaxLoP0eI
Lessisgreater 