January
30
Looking to Jesus....
(Hebrews 12:2 ESV).
There is a real touch of
Paul in this Letter to the Hebrews – "Looking off unto Jesus."
Whoever actually wrote this Letter, the shadow of Paul is over it. His
influence is everywhere. And certainly he was called upon to look off unto
Jesus. Now that is a very vital lesson for us to learn. We have to do that
again and again in our Christian life. If we get our eyes upon anything but the
Lord Jesus we just go to pieces. Have all respect for God's saints. I am not
saying that you have to eye every servant of God with suspicion and be saying
all the time: "Well, of course, he is not perfect, you know." Give
honor to whom honor is due, but never build your faith upon any man, however
good he may be.
And as for ourselves –
well, I think perhaps we are more tempted to look at ourselves than anything
else! This is one of our real Christian exercises. We have continually to
remove our eyes from ourselves and everything to do with ourselves. There is
nothing more discouraging than this self of ours, and nothing more misleading.
Our own judgments are all wrong, and so are our thoughts and ideas. They are
not God's thoughts. We must take our eyes off ourselves, but not look out into
space and be vacant. "Look off unto Jesus," and
you know how that sentence is finished – "Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith." Did you start this thing? Are
you a Christian because you decided to be a Christian? Well, the Lord help you
if that is so! No, He started this thing. Are you not glad that you can say:
"It was the Lord who found me. It was the Lord who put His hand on me.” What
He said is very true: "Ye did not choose Me, but I chose
you" (John 15:16). He was the author of our faith, and it says
that He is the finisher – He will finish it.
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