DON’T BE WEARY, LOOK TO JESUS

THEREFORE THEN, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God Hebrews 12:1-2 (AMP)

Are you tired and weary? Are you struggling with habitual sin? Have you lost hope with growing spiritually and becoming mature? Today I offer you a simple solution that has served you powerfully before. Only now, you may have now ceased to meditate on it. That is to look to the person and substitutionary work of JESUS. You may have heard the Gospel since you were young. But are you living a life that reflects what you believe? Now to answer some questions you may have:

1)    What does it mean to look to JESUS?

To look to JESUS, means to trust, treasure, delight and hope only in Jesus for everything in your life (Prov 3:5). When you look to JESUS, as the passage above shows, you need to look away from other things that would attempt to make themselves ‘gods’ in your life.  Matt 5:21 tells us that “where your heart is there your treasure will be”. Therefore one must look and see where their heart is. Is your heart enamoured, in awe of the beauty, magnificence and glory of CHRIST or do you invest your time, money, energy to working for another kingdom besides that of the King of Kings. Ultimately we must get our joy from being GOD’s children and not anything we do.

2)    Why look at JESUS?

The truth as Psalm 16:11 puts it is we can only find true joy in the presence of GOD. We must continually look to JESUS for our joy as only HE can provide us with perfect joy. Eternal joy that is not influenced by our actions but by what JESUS did on the cross. HE made it possible for us to have forgiveness of sins and to stand before GOD with a clear conscience and to be able to have an intimate relationship with HIM.

You might ask then what the point of all I’ve said is. Simply this: We often use JESUS as means to an end that would glorify us and then wonder why we are continually joyless and tired. Conversely, GOD wants us to treasure JESUS. He wants us to savour and worship HIM above all else. ‘GOD is most glorified when we are most satisfied in HIM’ – John Piper.

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. ‘We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.’ – C.S Lewis

Yours in the Lord

Khaya Nkumbesi