Focusing on the Finish Line

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Anyone who knows anything at all about running, especially sprinting, knows that you must set your gaze upon the finish line and make it the object of your determined attention. As a baseball player who is attempting to stretch a single into a double is exhorted to set his focus upon the base into which he is going, so the runner is urged to watch the finish line! For a runner to look at those who are running around him is to lose not only his concentration but his pace in running. Those who do so will invariably slow down whether running a base path or a track in a race.

The Greek verb here translated "fixing our eyes" means literally look away toward intently in the sense of fixing one's focus upon some distant object. Do you recall Jesus' words to Simon Peter when he questioned the Lord about what John's future was to be?

"Jesus said to him, 'If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!'" (John 21:22)

Very simply, Peter wanted to know how John was to run his race and Jesus responded by telling Peter not to watch John's race but rather to run his own! We are too easily distracted in our race for personal holiness, beloved, when we start looking to see what someone nearby may be doing or not doing. How we need to learn to run our own race in life!

Standing at the finish line, in the sense of this passage, is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who must become the object of our desire, the ultimate reason for which we run the race. The reality of life for each of us, beloved, is that our race will end either when He calls us home or when He returns in glory for His bride, the Church. But until either of these events is accomplished, we must keep our eyes on the finish line and not allow anything to deter us in our running.

And what of the example that Jesus Himself established for us to follow? The fact that the writer here says that He "endured the cross, despising the shame" is another way of saying that Jesus has run His own race and has run it successfully. Motivated by "the joy set before Him" - the satisfaction of redeeming you and me - Jesus bore it all, crossed His own finish line and became our Redeemer. Now He patiently and lovingly encourages you and me to run our own race with faithfulness and to keep our eyes upon Him.

Is your gaze on the finish line, beloved? If not, let me urge you to "look away" to Jesus! He's all the motivation that we need to finish our course and to keep the faith!

Ron