As we run with perseverance the race before us, Hebrews 12:2 says we are to be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

Let’s look at a few other translations of these words:

The CSB translation: “keeping our eyes on Jesus”
The NET: “keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus”
The ESV: “looking to Jesus”

You get the picture. It’s about concentrating our eyes and minds on Jesus.

Let’s say you’re in a devoted, monogamous, and committed relationship. Let’s say you’re on a date at a nice restaurant and someone attractive walks past wearing something (very) fetching. All of us know that if you let your eyes dwell upon that other person for a little too long that there is going to be trouble! A wandering eye reveals a wandering heart!

I offer this illustration because we often speak about our faith as a relationship with Jesus. Devotion to him means a conscious looking away from other enticements. 

Does a billionaire drop everything he’s doing when he sees a ten dollar bill blowing down the street? Does a child eating a double chocolate banana sundae leave it on a picnic table unattended to go over and pick up a dirty breath mint they see lying in the grass? Of course not. They enjoy what they are currently enjoying because they know they are already enjoying the better option.

So it is with Jesus.

If a wandering eye reveals a wandering heart, then a faithful heart produces an eye that is fixed on Jesus.

Joy and contentment are his ever-expanding gifts to those who seek his heart, and to those whom he has already pledged his own.

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.