Keep Your Eyes on God: Don't Lose Focus

Keep Your Eyes On God: Don’t Lose Focus

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

It is so easy for us to lose focus. We all deal with distractions that come on a daily basis, whether those distractions are lack of sleep, busy schedule, family, temptation, or anything else. It can be easy to take our eyes of God. For me, one of my struggles is a busy schedule that involves work, school, ministry, and family. Normally sleep is tossed out the window and many mornings it can be a struggle between an extra 15 to 30 minutes of sleep hitting the snooze button or getting up to do morning devotions and spend time with God. To be honest there are times the pillow wins and other times where the morning devotions win.

In Hebrews 12:1-2 Paul describes our life like a person running a race and here are some things we can learn:

1. We Are Not Alone: We have a support system of other believers we can turn to and rely on. Runners train and have a support system to help them. Being surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses is just that for us. Men and women of God that can lift us up and keep us focused on where God is leading us.

2. Avoid Sin: We must not let sin and life become a burden that slows us down. Think about it, when was the last time you watched a race and the person was carrying extra weight? It doesn’t happen. Runners run light carrying nothing so that they can run faster and longer to finish the race. We too must not let sin slow us down because if we let sin into our lives it will take our focus off of God and drag us out of the race.

3. Keep Going, Don’t Quit: While how we run the race is important, ultimately it is about how we finish the race. Life can get hard and we can want to quit. Runners in a race hit something called the wall. It is where their body tells their brain it can’t go on. At that point the runner can stop or push through. When they push through they get something called a second wind. We too must keep pushing through and endure.

4: Keep Your Eyes On Jesus: Our focus will determine how we finish the race. The worst thing a runner can do in a race is take their eyes off the finish line. If they start looking in other places like the runners behind them, they slow down and can end up losing the race. For us as believers we must finish the race. That means keeping our eyes and focus on Jesus and not getting entangled by the things that can distract us.

So as you run the race of life, don’t lose focus. Keep your eyes of Jesus, keep going, don’t quit; stay away from sin, and remember you are not alone. The prize for winning the race is so worth it!