Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy (goal) set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of throne of God. Consider him…”
Someone once wrote: “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” It’s easy to be distracted from the goal when so many things compete for our attention. We’re bombarded with apparently urgent tasks which need doing.
My team-mate in our Evangelism Department is called Leonidas. Back in 1996, he had to flee from university because he was from the ‘wrong’ tribe. Students from the other tribe had thrown a grenade into his room as he was praying, and he narrowly escaped with his life, needing several operations to remove shrapnel from his eye. He has no bitterness towards them, and often includes the incident as part of his testimony of grace. He was forced to go and live in the bush, and used to walk 18 miles each day to teach at a distant school. The believers met each week on his only day off, so even then he walked all that way, through mud, rain, sunshine, whatever; and all these years on, the fruit is obvious as the whole area seems to be experiencing extraordinary times. God is faithful. Leonidas’ eyes – damaged but still shining – are on the goal: to change the nation through the powerful message of the risen Christ.
Jesus ‘endured the cross’ because he kept his eye on the goal. That was quite an obstacle. Whatever you’re facing, don’t lose hope today. So if obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal, I guess you and I need to ask ourselves:
1) What’s my goal?
and, irrespective of any obstacles,
2) Who or what are my eyes focused on?
Lord, I choose to keep my eyes firmly fixed on the goal today. Amen!
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