How can I stay focused on Christ?

In the Epistle to the Hebrews we have the hortatory words of the great apostle, "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking off unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." What a divine object is here presented to our souls' vision, and what a powerful magnet to attract our hearts from all earth's fading scenes! Our great "Forerunner" has trodden the pathway first, and faith delights to follow in His holy footprints, who has not only shown us how to run, but also the way He trod. He who while here below as the dependent Man ever found His resources in God, having run the race, from first to last, to the glory of God, has taken His seat in triumph on God's throne, and in His own person has become the divine object to attract our hearts heavenward. Just as our eyes undistractedly gaze on that heavenly Overcomer, where He now is, so shall we gather both patience and strength for the homeward race. It is the attractive power, grace and glory of Christ's person that lends strength to our girded loins. Thus it was with Paul, who could say, he did "not run uncertainly." His eyes, like Stephen's, gazed stedfastly upward to the Man in the glory of God, and his words may well find a place in our hearts today, "This one thing I do; forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and, if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you."

At the same time the believer is deeply conscious he is in a world where Jesus was, but is not, and is running on to where He is. The spiritual worshipper is also then a devoted runner; and in so doing, he is exhorted to drop every weight which impedes his course, to lay aside unbelief in all its delusive forms that easily besetting sin — and to run the race set before him. (Heb. 12:1-3.) He is encouraged to run, not to loiter, nor to seek a resting-place, where the faithful Forerunner had none; but to follow on in the race with patient, persevering faith. Not with spasmodic or desultory efforts, but with patience; not looking to men, however well they may have been reported for their faith; but to keep the eye steadily on Him, who has run the race perfectly, who knows every step of the way, every impediment and temptation, and is now sitting on the throne of God. We are, then, to run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus (or looking stedfastly on Jesus) where He now is. Thus, turning from every other object, and fixing the eye of our heart on Him, the Leader and Completer (not of our faith, but) of faith, we must look stedfastly and dependently on Him, who has trodden the path of faith perfectly from the beginning to the end; for all our resources are in Him. We are enjoined also to "consider him," whose path was beset so painfully with opposition and trial; for when we well consider Him, who endured so great contradiction from sinners against Himself, we become cheered and strengthened, so that we do not grow weary and faint in our minds. The blessed Lord had joy in prospect, and so we have the bright hope of being with Him, and like Him for ever. We are told that He "for the joy which was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." The Forerunner is for us entered within the veil, and we are to run the race with patience, looking unto Him.

Finally we read in Hebrews 12:13, "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 hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds". In these verses we have the picture of an arena we have the witnesses (the believers of Old Testament times as presented in Hebrews 11), we have the race with its hindrances, and we have a mark Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith. To get the needed strength for the walk of faith our eyes have to be fixed on Jesus on Him who went before us in this race (the Author of faith) and Him who will bring us also to the end (the Finisher of faith). As He, when He was down here, looked forward to the joy following His sufferings, so we should fix our eyes on Him and the coming glory. But that is not all. We need also to consider Him who lived here as Man. Jesus had to endure much opposition from sinners when He was on earth and has given us an example, that we should follow His steps. In this twofold way we have to consider Jesus.

Jesus is the Author and Finisher of the path of faith in Hebrews 12; what commenced down here in Manhood ended for Him at the right hand of God. As we run the race, our eyes do not rest on the great cloud of witnesses, but on Jesus at God's right hand. Unless our eyes rest on Jesus we can never go on in the race. In Him we see One Who endured the cross and despised its shame; One Who endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself; and occupied with Him we are strengthened and encouraged in the race. Looking unto Jesus on the Father's throne, Crowned with highest glory, object for His own. Pleasures deep, eternal, there for us are given; Joys so full for pilgrims on their way to heaven.

Having the soul fixed on Christ will enable us to resist temptation and sin. It is not so much by thinking of the object that may be a temptation to us, that we shall get strength; it is not in letting our minds dwell on it, even though it be with the effort to resist it. Our privilege is to be occupied with Christ, and thus obtain the victory.

Now how far can our souls say we are actually delivered, not only forgiven, but delivered? I do not mean that if you are careless you will not slip into sin, but there is a positive deliverance; we are not in the flesh at all. The world is there, Satan is there, and I have to watch every moment to have Christ sufficiently before my mind. You will find that nine-tenths of the things that are temptations to us would be no temptations at all if we walked with Christ. See a mother who has heard that her child has met with an accident on the railway, and lies at the station suffering; how hastens to the spot, and does not even think of the show and vanity in the shop windows she may have to pass. Another time she might linger there, but not now. If our souls are filled with Christ, as I said, nine-tenths of the things that are temptations to us we shall not think of at all. It is living as Christ - "By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." The great mass of the temptations we should escape altogether, because we should be thinking of something entirely different. God has called me up to be with Christ and like Christ, and now I am after that, and am looking for nothing else. We all have some object that we follow with energy and life, and can we say that it is Christ, and that that is the one thing that governs our hearts from day to day?

274 Here is a mother; she is told that her child has been run over at the railway. She is off directly. Does she think of the things in the street as she passes? Not she; on she runs. All those things which might have been an attraction to her if she had been unoccupied — a fine dress hung out, or a pretty picture — they none of them arrest her attention now; she does not see them. And so ninety-nine out of a hundred temptations never would be such to you if Christ were in your mind. If we were full of Him, there would be no room for the idle thoughts with which Satan seeks to distract us by the world around us, if he cannot occupy us with them as an object.

Would a woman who had heard that her child was killed or hurt at the other end of the town be thinking of what she saw in the shop windows as she ran toward him? No; she would have just enough sense to find her way. If your hearts were fixed like that on Christ, nine-tenths of the temptations that come upon you would be gone: you would be thinking of something else, and outward things would only bring out sweetness, as they did with Christ; for we are never tempted above that which we are able.

Would a woman who had heard that her child was killed or hurt at the other end of the town be thinking of what she saw in the shop-windows as she ran toward him? No; she would have just enough sense to find her way. If your hearts were fixed like that on Christ, nine-tenths of the temptations that come upon you would be gone: you would be thinking of something else, and outward things would only bring out sweetness, as they did with Christ; for we are never tempted above that which we are able.

The Lord Jesus Christ is not now an object of sight. His presence is to us a matter of faith, but we are apt to forget this at times. And when we come together for the remembrance of the Lord Jesus we are liable to allow objects of sight and hearing to come between us and the fact that we are remembering the Lord Jesus Himself, and that His known presence should engage every heart. This subtle danger has to be watched against. We have to be careful lest our thoughts wander from Him. We know how treacherous our hearts are. Some persons, I suppose, may have more difficult minds to manage than others; some people's minds move very rapidly and are easily influenced by outward events — by whatever happens inside the door or even outside it. All these things Satan can use to rob us of some, if not of all, the few moments we are together for the remembrance of the Lord Jesus. The object of Satan is to interpose something between our hearts and the Lord Jesus Christ which will cause us to forget Him. If he can make me forget Him for twenty per cent. of the time, he has gained the victory so far, and I have been so far defeated.