Day 9: Let Jesus be the focus of your life!

We are discovering a certain number of logical steps in order to obtain God’s best.

There is a second way to complete the sentence, “If you want God’s best….” It is focus on Jesus. We are told in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)

There are a number of logical steps in what the writer says. First, he points out that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. He is referring to the previous chapter of Hebrews (see chapter 11), where he wrote about the great saints of the Old Testament who succeeded—men who found God’s best. The writer says we have a cloud of witnesses around us, people who have proved in their lives and experiences that it really is possible to find God’s best. That is the starting point.

Second, he says that if we want to find God’s best, doing so will consist in running a race. In order to run the race successfully, we must throw off everything that hinders. A runner does not carry a single ounce of unnecessary weight on his person or in his clothing. In our case, it is sin that so easily entangles us, and we must be sure there is nothing to trip us up.

Third, we must run with perseverance. I pointed out earlier, in connection with the good soil in the parable of the sower, that the three conditions were hearing the Word, retaining the Word, and bringing forth fruit with perseverance.

Having laid those foundations for success, the writer of Hebrews now comes to what I consider to be the critical point: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). This is a key to success: focus on Jesus; keep your eyes on Him. The writer points out that Jesus is both the author and perfecter of our faith.

I will use two simpler words: He is the beginner and completer of our faith. We probably all realize that Jesus is the beginner, but sometimes we forget the fact that Jesus is also the completer. If we want our faith to be completed, we have to keep on focusing on Jesus. It is not enough to begin by focusing on Jesus and then get distracted and look somewhere else. If we do that, our faith will never be completed.