Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

These first three verses of Hebrews 12, and particularly this one, contain what has been a continuing refrain in my ministry for the past several years: keep your eyes on Jesus. Doing that puts everything into perspective and gives us strength and hope to deal with every­thing we encounter in our lives. One point that stands out to me from this verse this morning is that Jesus didn’t just deal with physical pain on the cross, he dealt with embarrassment. Depictions of crucifixion almost always have one inauthentic detail: a loin cloth. The Romans didn’t waste any scrap of clothing on those they were executing. Jesus endured everything for “the joy that was set before Him.” It does us a lot of good to consider just what that joy was. In the first place, it was returning to His position of glory with the Father, as it mentions in this verse, but if that had been all, there was no reason for Him to have left heaven in the first place. The special joy that was available to Him only after the cross was bringing us with Him into glory. Romans 8:29 speaks of Him being “the Firstborn among many brothers,” and Hebrews 2:10 speaks of “bringing many sons to glory.” As has been pointed out from the 1st Century right up through the present, Jesus went through all He did for us. The better we grasp that reality, the easier it will be to endure anything at all on this earth, because His love will blot out all our pain and suffering of all sorts.

As I have written recently, I have encountered opposition to this message from people who weren’t willing to concede that God was greater than their problems. That seems so absurd! Why wallow in misery when we can keep our eyes on Jesus? As someone mentioned in a testimony in the service just yesterday, physical pain can have a strong negative influence on us spiritually, and actually, emotional pain can do the same thing. That’s why spiritual maturity involves the choice to fix our eyes on Jesus regardless of our circumstances. I need to admonish and encourage the believers to make that choice, because if they will do it, the benefits are beyond calculation. At the same time, I need to be careful to make that choice myself, so that I won’t teach others and then fail to receive the benefits along with them.

Father, thank You for Your absolute faithfulness. Thank You for all You are doing in this church, in each member and in our interactions and organization. Help us keep growing in every way, so that we will be the body of believers that You desire, doing Your will in bringing many into Your kingdom, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!