Fixing my eyes on Jesus

Yesterday I read a chapter in a book that's been sitting on my bedside table for a few months now: Enjoying God: Experience the power and love of God, by Tim Chester. The chapter mentioned fixing our eyes on Jesus. It's a concept that I return to time and time again in my life, so it was good to think about it again with some concrete ideas on how to do it. Simply: remembering what God has done, what he continues to do in us and around us, and what he's got planned:

You can look back to his work on the cross; you can look up to his presence in heaven for you; and you can look forward to the day when he returns for his people. (Chester, p 84)

I'd completely forgotten my 2014 goal of blogging once a month on one of my favourite Bible passages: Hebrews 12:1-3, but it came up when I did a search of my blog before I started writing a new blog post today. In June that year, 2014, we went on our third home assignment. At the start of the year I knew it was going to be a challenging year, so the challenge of focussing my thoughts and words on this passage, was important. I ended up only writing six times (though I've blogged about or mentioned this passage numerous other times through the years, for example here).

2014 blogging on Heb. 12:1-3:

February: pushing through, remembering Jesus and others who have gone before us

March: who is Jesus?

April: heavenly perspective

May: setting goals

June: the stuff we see now is temporary

September: fixing our eyes on Jesus despite the hardships

Today was a difficult day. I had goals for the day—a long To Do list for work, on which very little got done because a couple of other urgent matters arose that I had no control over. So when I rode in the rain to get some groceries, it was good to remember that chapter I read yesterday and ask myself some questions:

• What's unchanging here? God! He's God whether or not I do what I'd intended to do. He's God even when things don't go the way I want them to, when the future looks murky.
• What's my ultimate goal? That I serve God wherever I am. If that means doing something other than what I'd planned, then that is okay too.
• What is my hope based on? God, it all comes back to him. No one else is the Rock on which I can base my hope (Psalm 18:2,31).

While I rode my bike along a familiar route and peered through the raindrops on my glasses, it was good to remind myself of these foundational things that my faith is based on. And that is "fixing my eyes on Jesus". Do you have a recent story where you deliberately focused your eyes on Jesus?