FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS CONTINUALLY!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly… —I Corinthians 9:24-26

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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. —Hebrews 12:1-2

            What race are you running?  Where are your eyes fixed?  How are you running?  Who are you running toward?  Why are you running the race that you are running?  When you finish the race you are running, what will the result of that race be?

            Paul was not running his race marked out for him aimlessly.  He had purpose in his race.  His race was about “fixing (his) eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  His race was a faith race as he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus.  Jesus was the main focal point.  This is why Paul did “not run like someone running aimlessly.”  He had real purpose and reason in running with “perseverance the race marked out for him.”

            This “strict training” he was in was enabling him to run in such a way as “to get a crown that will last forever.”  Paul understood that we are “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” and that we need to “us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” us.  So, let me ask again—

• What race are you running? 
• Where are your eyes fixed? 
• How are you running? 
• Who are you running toward? 
• Why are you running the race that you are running? 
• When you finish the race you are running, what will the result of that race be?

May we be running and continue to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  Fixing our yes on Jesus will keep us running as He desires.

I do distant swimming and you want to swim in a straight line and not aimlessly.  So, I aim at a fixed point and swim toward it.  That keeps me swimming in a straight line.  To run as Jesus wants us to run, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him… on Him!  May I do so, Dear Father, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.  Yes, so may it be!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLX83HbefrI&list=RDFLX83HbefrI&start_radio=1