You Steer Where You Stare
“…keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” — Hebrews 12:2 (CSB)
Anybody who's taught a kid to ride a bike has said some version of the same sentence: quit looking at the ditch. Because here's the thing about a bicycle, or a truck, or a boat, or a life. You steer where you stare. Lock your eyes on the thing you're afraid of and you'll drive straight into it. Every time.
Hebrews just told us to run with endurance. Now it tells us where to look while we run. Not down at our feet. Not sideways at everybody else's pace. On Jesus.
He's called the pioneer of our faith, which means He went first. He broke the trail. There's no stretch of hard road you'll walk that He hasn't already walked, including betrayal, exhaustion, grief, temptation, and the feeling of being completely alone.
And He's called the perfecter of our faith, which means He isn't just where your faith started. He's the One who will bring it all the way home. What He began in you, He finishes.
But look at what carried Him through the cross. Joy. Not joy in the cross, there was nothing joyful about it. Joy in what lay on the other side of it. He could endure the worst suffering in human history because He could see past it to a Sunday morning, to an empty tomb, to a day when every knee bows.
That's the power of looking up. When you know where you're going, you can survive almost anything on the way there. When all you can see is the ditch, the ditch is where you'll end up.
Today your circumstances will be loud. They'll ask for all of your attention and most of your emotional energy. You get to decide what your eyes lock onto.
Every time anxiety spikes today, stop and redirect. Say His name out loud if you need to. You can spend this day staring at the ditch, or you can spend it fixed on the One who already crossed the finish line. You will end up wherever you're looking.
Prayer
Jesus, You are the pioneer and the perfecter of my faith. You went first, and You will finish what You started in me. Today I fix my eyes on You instead of on what scares me. When I drift, pull my gaze back. Let the joy that carried You through the cross carry me through this day. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Anybody who's taught a kid to ride a bike has said some version of the same sentence: quit looking at the ditch. Because here's the thing about a bicycle, or a truck, or a boat, or a life. You steer where you stare. Lock your eyes on the thing you're afraid of and you'll drive straight into it. Every time.
Hebrews just told us to run with endurance. Now it tells us where to look while we run. Not down at our feet. Not sideways at everybody else's pace. On Jesus.
He's called the pioneer of our faith, which means He went first. He broke the trail. There's no stretch of hard road you'll walk that He hasn't already walked, including betrayal, exhaustion, grief, temptation, and the feeling of being completely alone.
And He's called the perfecter of our faith, which means He isn't just where your faith started. He's the One who will bring it all the way home. What He began in you, He finishes.
But look at what carried Him through the cross. Joy. Not joy in the cross, there was nothing joyful about it. Joy in what lay on the other side of it. He could endure the worst suffering in human history because He could see past it to a Sunday morning, to an empty tomb, to a day when every knee bows.
That's the power of looking up. When you know where you're going, you can survive almost anything on the way there. When all you can see is the ditch, the ditch is where you'll end up.
Today your circumstances will be loud. They'll ask for all of your attention and most of your emotional energy. You get to decide what your eyes lock onto.
Every time anxiety spikes today, stop and redirect. Say His name out loud if you need to. You can spend this day staring at the ditch, or you can spend it fixed on the One who already crossed the finish line. You will end up wherever you're looking.
Prayer
Jesus, You are the pioneer and the perfecter of my faith. You went first, and You will finish what You started in me. Today I fix my eyes on You instead of on what scares me. When I drift, pull my gaze back. Let the joy that carried You through the cross carry me through this day. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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