Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. 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 is set down at the right had of the throne of God.”
My son Noah, who got saved last week (more on this in my next post), learned how to ride his bike without training wheels a few months ago. As compared to my other children, teaching him was easy. The only minor pitfall during the process was the day of the week we chose to make the no-training-wheel leap. It was trash pickup day, with large green garbage cans looming on the side of the road; these out-of-the-way obstacles captured Noah’s attention. In fact, his one problem was that he was so worried about the garbage cans that he looked at them as he rode. Sure enough, looking at them caused him to steer towards them and he ran into several as a result. These garbage can mishaps were caused by failing to look where he wanted to go, and instead looking where he did not want to go.
In life, looking anywhere other than towards Jesus will cause us to diverge from Him. This divergence based on our gaze may not be towards something as filthy as a garbage can, but anything that captures our primary attention other than the Lord will weigh us down in our Christian race. Indeed, American Christians have been captivated by everything but the Lord, causing us repeated mishaps that have diminished the effectiveness of our collective testimonies. PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD TRULY MAKE THE LORD THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF OUR ATTENTION. If we want our race to be effective, we must do so. Otherwise, we will continue to be garbage can casualties.