Today’s Bible Verse
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)
Looking Unto Jesus
We live in a world that is vying for our attention in many ways. The world tries to distract us and attract us to its ways through our senses. One of the main ways the world tries to lure us in so subtly is through our eye gates because our eyes are the window to our hearts. If the enemy can get us to look away from Jesus and His Word, he will eventually drain us of our spiritual strength. When unforeseen circumstances and problems arise, the enemy will try to get us to look more at the problem than at the promise, Jesus!
This scripture is encouraging us to look unto Jesus and turn away from the distractions of the world. Looking means to give your undivided attention, looking away from all distractions, fixing one’s gaze on one object. To look means to keep your eyes and your mind on Jesus; to be fixed on Him; never removing your eyes and your mind from Him; looking at Jesus through the spiritual eyes of faith with intent, focus, and determined purpose.
Let’s look at the Passion Translation of this verse:
We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!
When Jesus came to the earth, He had one mission on His mind—to redeem mankind through His sacrifice on the cross. If we were His focus, then He should be our focus. Looking to Him, trusting Him, and giving our focused affection and attention to Him will always lead us to victory, peace, joy, healing, and prosperity. What we look at will leave an impression on us; therefore, it’s very important we keep our eyes on Him. We do this by being committed to our daily devotional time (which includes constant meditation, confession, and application of the Word), attending all Church services, serving in the church, fellowshipping with other Christians, our financial giving, our generosity in serving others, attending life group, and developing our spiritual growth through classes that teach us the Godly principles of how to keep our eyes on Jesus. (Pastor Chauncey Pang)
Change My Story
Have you ever found yourself distracted by other things? Thoughts, hobbies, activities, etc? Things that occupied your time and started to cause you to drift away from church, fellowship, life group, classes, God? What has distracted you this past year? With all that we’ve been through as a nation, a country, and a state, the distractions of this world have truly tried to take their toll on the church. But it shall not be with you! It’s time to refocus and take your eyes off those things and put them back on Jesus–the true author and finisher of your faith!
Today’s Declaration
Today, I choose to repent of things that have distracted me and tried to take me away from serving You. Forgive me, Lord. I declare that You are Lord of all and Lord of everything in my life. I choose to refocus my affection and attention on You. I will always look unto You, Jesus, because You are THE author and THE finisher of my faith!
Today’s Bible Reading
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.
