Fixed on Jesus

He almost got caught!  The 10-year old boy was playing flag football for a local recreation league. He had the ball with nothing but the end zone in front of him! The problem was that he wasn’t looking at the end zone! This young man had his eyes fixed, I mean really fixed, on the one single opponent still in pursuit. There was nothing but fear in the player’s eyes as he stared over his right shoulder for forty yards. He ran like that all the way down the field. Although he scored, it was much closer than it should have been. The young player almost got caught by the very thing he feared and he came just inches from running out of bounds. Because his eyes were fixed on his fear instead of the prize, he almost lost it all.

What a picture of the way we often run the race of Christianity. There are so many things people fear. We fear sin, failure, death and being alone. We fear conflict, pain, poverty, success, speaking in front of crowds and little bugs. It’s very easy for us to fix our eyes on those fears.

When we fix our eyes on our fears, we are taking our eyes off of Jesus. That’s when we get caught. We get caught by our own fears, sometimes even paralyzed by the “what if’s” of the fear. And sometimes, just like that young football player, those fears run us out right of bounds. We think we are running a race with Jesus but since our attention is held captive by our fear, we aren’t running in the way or even in the direction Jesus has called us to run.

My friend, take your eyes off of your fears and fix them on Jesus Christ!

“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, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrew 12:1-3, NIV)

Anchored in grace,

Harrison