Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Over the last few days, we’ve talked about shedding all of the sin in our lives so that we can run the race set before us. We’ve talked about the “huge crowd of witnesses” to our “lives of faith.”
This all can sound very overwhelming and believe me, it is if we miss out on one very important fact; a fact that the writer of Hebrews knew was key:
Keeping our eyes on Jesus is the only hope we have of accomplishing these things.
Jesus is the beginning and the end of our faith. He is the starter and the finisher. When we muster up faith in a tough situation, we do it because Jesus gives us the strength to. When our life changes radically, we have no explanation than just to say that Jesus did it. I like how this translation puts it in that Jesus “initiates and perfects our faith.” He makes our faith perfect if we keep our eyes on Him!
As John (the pastor, not the Baptist) taught us this past Sunday, it is Jesus who finds us. We don’t have the capacity, apart from the Holy Spirit moving us to do so, to seek Him out. We don’t have the natural good sense to accept Jesus without Him first knocking on the doors of our heart. The whole story of our salvation is that Jesus encounters us and radically transforms our lives!
We don’t make these changes or create in ourselves something new. Jesus makes us new! He initiates our faith! And in the same way, He will see it to fruition, or perfection, as this translation puts it. He will grow us and He will continue to change us until we look more and more like Him!
Take comfort in this and keep your eyes on Jesus!
