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Are you easily distracted like I am? SQUIRREL! If so, you'll need some spiritual friends to help you realign and get through your"stuff". And we all have STUFF! At our age...at any age! So get ready, because the question we ask this week is..."WHERE'S your FOCUS?" ----------------------- Focus is hard to maintain. We all take our eye off the ball once in a while. We live in a world of "dings" on our cell phones, "billboards" on our highways, and "ads" in our emails. Our lives can literally be one "interruption after another", So "SPIRITUAL FOCUS" becomes incredibly important! Here's the rest of this incredible passage in Hebrews 12:1-3. So far we've established that we have people in the "CLOUD" cheering us on (those in scripture & heaven) and we have people in the "CROWD" (personal holy heroes) who've helped to shape us spiritually. Last weekend we focused on the fact we need to live an "UNHINDERED life", as we acknowledge the "sin that so easily entangles" and the "wounds that most likely still haunt us". (The "wounds" is found in the Passion Translation). Getting rid of those hurts & entanglements is no easy task. Repentance and forgiveness are involved. Appropriate confession and humility are foundational. And another scripture in Ephesians 4:15, will further facilitate this, which says we are to "SPEAK the TRUTH in LOVE, and then we will become mature in Christ". So to condense and categorize the past 3 weeks, there is encouragement we must "RECEIVE" and entanglement we must "RELEASE". But today is the remainder of this 3 verse passage. I've learned it in many different translations, so let me "weave and bob" some of those phrases together. "Let us run the race with perseverance that is marked out before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinful men so that you might not grow weary and lose heart." I know…you won't find all of those words in any one translation. It's a little 1984 NIV… a little King James…and a little NLT. That's what happens when you live long enough to embrace new translations of the Bible. But my goodness, what a POWERFUL passage! So where is your "focus"? You've got a strong crew in your "heavenly CLOUD" (Bible heroes) and hopefully a committed fellowship in your "earthly CROWD" (mentors & spiritual coaches). But we have a lifelong challenge in "healing from the hurts" and "SORE SPOTS" in our heart. Can we maintain our "focus" on Jesus? Is He just a "random reference point" or has He truly become our "fixated focal point"? Notice what the Bible says Jesus DID for us... He "authored and perfected" our faith. He "endured the suffering of the cross" at the hands of sinful men. Take that in for a moment. What He did, He did for the whole world. Not just so we could have a GOOD life, but so we might have ETERNAL life with him. Let me ask you to pick the word or phrase that best describes how you related to Jesus in each of these seasons of your life? Did you feel He was... (non-existent / distant / accessible / close by) in your childhood? in your adolescence? in time of young adulthood? in your middle-age years? now in your 50+ years? Use any of those words...or use YOUR OWN to describe your relationship with Him at those times in your growing up. Take your time. Who maybe "ran the race" with you in those eras of your life? Do you move "towards" Jesus over time? Did you go "back and forth"? Are you "encouraged" where you are now? Do you long to be "closer"? My hope is you have grown CLOSER to Him as time has gone by. But life has a way of pulling the rug out from under us at times. Maybe even just recently! When that happens, we need to realign. "Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you". David said in Psalm 16, "I have set the Lord continually before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices!" Peter even quoted that Psalm in his first sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Can we "set the Lord continually before us"? Will we allow Him to be not only the author, but the PERFECTER of our faith. The One who picks us up when we fall? The One who coaches us in our corner all throughout the "15 round fight" of life? A couple of years ago, I struggled to end a sermon wanting to illustrate the need we have to reflect upon how Jesus has "seen us through" difficult times in our life. For some odd reason, I was led to attempt to put a phrase with every letter of the alphabet describing who He has been to me. Some of these, of course, are names in the Bible or phrases from an old hymn. But I had to really think hard on letters like Q, X and Z. They always give people fits in an exercise like this! Let me encourage you to do what I did and come up with your own "JESUS: A to Z" description. But before I sign off...here's mine... He is the... A--ALPHA and Omega B--BEGINNING and the End C--CALM in the middle of my storm D--DELIVERER on whom I can depend E--EVERLASTING to everlasting F--FAIREST of 10,000 to my soul G--GOOD Shepherd H--HOLY, anointed one I--IMMANUEL, God with us J--JESUS of Nazareth K--KING of KINGS L--LORD of LORDS M--MIGHTY One of Israel N--NAME above all NAMES O--OMNISCIENT, Omnipresent, Omnipotent... P--PROPHET, PRIEST and King over the House of God and the People of God Q--QUOTABLE, Notable and Highly Promotable Son of the Living God R--ROCK of our Salvation S--STONE that the Builders Rejected T--TEACHER, Preacher and Maker of every Creature U--UNIVERSAL Savior for our UNIVERSAL Sin V--VICTOR who can Never be Defeated W--WAY, the Truth and the Life and no man or woman and no boy or girl, no Republican, Democrat or independent, can come to the Father except through Him! X--He's the X-FACTOR in our Faithfulness and the X-TRACTOR of our Sinfulness Y--the YEARNING Deep within our Soul Z--He's the Z-PACK of our Heavenly 3-Pack (the only cure for our Sin-Sick Souls) Jesus is all of that...and so much more! We could go on forever describing His supremacy over all of creation! And the Good news is, by His grace, we get to do just that! Love you guys.... May we help one another stay alert... stay focused.... and "Fix our eyes on Him"! george
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