Articles
Keeping Our Eyes On Jesus
We don't have a lot of one-way streets in our small town, in fact, I can only think of one public street that is one way, and it's very short. We do have a major highway running through, divided into two one-way lanes with one-way on ramps and exit ramps. In larger cities, one-way streets are a big deal, and they have a lot of them. One way streets are necessary to manage the flow of traffic and keep people safe. But whether or not we have many, once you are on one, it's intended for you to only go one way! Going the oppposite way will pose danger and could end in disaster.
Once we decide to follow Christ, we have placed ourselves on a one way street so to speak. We chose to go one direction, and stay on the path. We chose the "...one body and one Spirit, just as also [we] were called in one hope of [our] calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father..." (Eph 4:3-5). We chose to deny all others. We believe and proclaim the one Gospel (Gal 1:8) and deny all others. We decided on the one and only way to Heaven, Jesus Christ (John 14:6), for He says there is only one way. We chose a path for our lives that if we want to reach our goal, demands we stay on the one way street.
As we travel through life, there are opportunities to turn off this street that come at us constantly. Temptations try to lure us off the way, people and worldly opportunities throw up road hazards that force us to navigate carefully to stay true to our route. Satan throws up stop lights, detour signs and pot holes, yet as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus at the end of our road, we can overcome whatever else gets in our way.
Our encouragement today is to stay focused, keeping our eyes on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews compares our journey to running a race, which would require the runner to stay on the course set out for the race, much like our one way road, and he tells us to stay focused, keep at it, and run with determination to the finish line, "... fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith." (Heb 12:2)
