3-6-2020

 Good Morning All, 

     Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

    Yesterday I was leading a Bible study at an area assisted living center.  I arrived a couple minutes early, so I took the opportunity to get a cup of coffee and look at the various poster, pictures and wall hangings.  In the room where we were meeting for the Bible study was a small wooden plaque that was a redwood base and then lighter colored wood (maybe pine or poplar) cut into small strips and laid out in a design on top of it.  As I looked at it, I was fascinated with the way it changed.  If you focused on the redwood, you could clearly make out the name “Jesus”.  However, if you focused on the lighter colored wood, you only saw a jumble of wood.  There was no rhyme or reason to the patterns, just a jumble of wood.  I played visual tag with that plaque for 5-6 minutes, alternating between seeing Jesus in the redwood but only a jumbled mess when looking at the other.

    That pretty much describes the life of a Christian.  When you focus on Jesus, you can see him clearly, but when you look away or focus elsewhere; life can become a jumbled mess.  When we stay focused, we stay safe.  When we look away, or look to something else, we are soon lost.  It is in this confusion that the devil works his tricks.  Once we start confused, the devil simply adds to it.  He clouds our minds with more and more half-truths, full-on lies, distortions, doubts and fear.  Soon we are like the wildebeest that separates from the herd and the lions feast that evening.

    So, we are to look to Jesus, to stay focused on Jesus, but how?  How do we do this?  This is part of our Lenten journey.  Lent is to be a penitential season.  It is a time of repentance but that is only part of penitence.  Another part of penitence is a humbling of ourselves before God.  It is looking to God and seeing our only hope, seeing our only method of attaining comfort, peace, rest, assurance, hope and eternal life.  So, we stay focused, we stay focused on the real source and hope that we have.  We remember who Jesus is, our Savior and redeemer, and we remember who we are, the ones who need to be saved.  We humbly look to Jesus for that redemption.

    There are many times when it is easy to lose focus on Jesus.  It might be some wildly great times, when the blessings of God fade into the past as we bathe in our own self-glory.  Or it might be in time of sickness, sorrow, despair and helplessness that we look away, we look to other faces, hear other words, try other thoughts and we soon find ourselves lost in a sea of hopelessness.  It is this sea where Jesus shines his light.  He proclaims his words of forgiveness and extends his hand to pull us from this sea, to pull us into his boat, the church, to be rescued by his love.  Jesus comes to save; to save you and to give you hope for eternal life.

Gracious Father lead me to see your mercy and to trust your grace.  Keep my eyes focused on Jesus and his wondrous mercy.  Keep me safe in your loving arms.  Protect those who are struggling today.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret