June 12, The relationship – Question #5

Is Jesus the true orientation of your life, or have you reduced Him to only one expression of your life’s commitments?   

Fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2

I spoke with one of our college students yesterday who shared that God had recently revealed the spiritual complacency of his life.  He said,

“sometimes it feels like Jesus is just something else we check off our list, like brush your teeth – check, eat breakfast – check; sometimes it’s like, ‘spend time with Jesus – check’.”

I deeply appreciated his honesty as he shared ways God was renewing his faith from a season of spiritual complacency to refreshed faith.   

How about for you?  Have you ever reduced Jesus to only one of many commitments in your life?  Well, the literal part of my thought process says, “you can’t reduce Jesus.”  But sometimes we can reduce our orientation on Jesus to simply a compartmentalized commitment equal to many other commitments.  And, the dangerous consequence of doing so is the separation between one’s spiritual life one’s real life.  Paul Tripp, pastor and best-selling author, describes the life of one who lives out such a dichotomy:

The real life drawer is the one they dig into frequently and are most comfortable with. It contains all the stuff of everyday life, like their job, physical health, friends and family, leisure, money, possessions, and daily routine. This drawer dominates their thinking and their doing. It’s where they expend most of their emotional and physical energy, and where most dreams will be realized or dashed. The contents of this drawer are the location of their highs and lows, their joys and sorrows.

Then they have a second drawer—the spiritual life drawer. All the “God” stuff goes here. It’s the drawer for Sunday worship, small group, tithes and offerings, short-term mission trips, and the evangelistic conversations with neighbors or extended family members.  Yes, they believe in Jesus, His forgiveness, and the eternity to come, but these beliefs don’t have a radical impact on the way they think about themselves and life in general. Their faith is an aspect of their life, but not something that shapes everything in their life.[1]

To determine your life’s status concerning the above description, on any given day, what most influences the way you think about yourself and your life?  What is the driving factor for the majority of what you think, say, and do?  If Jesus is truly the one orientation of your life, then everything goes into the second drawer.  Tripp concludes, “God has a radical, single-drawer purpose for your life: to make the invisible presence of Jesus visible” in everything we think, say, and do.[2]  This is not possible if we are living compartmentalized.  

Today, instead of reducing your orientation of Jesus to one of many commitments, ask Jesus to reduce your life to one single orientation of His Lordship.  This becomes such a necessity in a world of competing affections and loyalties. And, this is why the writer of Hebrews exclaimed, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”  To fix one’s eyes continues the metaphor of a race mentioned in verse one of Hebrews 12:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  (Hebrews 12:1)

If the runner, an athletic personification of every follower of Jesus, is to run successfully toward the goal, he or she must avoid distractions of every kind.  And, the answer to the distractions is to look unto Jesus: 

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

To fix one’s eyes signifies more than to view with intensity. “Fixed eyes” represents eyes that have found the goal and will fix upon that goal regardless of this distance.  Jesus becomes the goal.  The goal is not church attendance, consistent Christian disciplines, nor a good reputation.  Each of these can be accomplished compartmentally.  The goal is Jesus, and so we look unto Him.  He becomes the sole focus of the orientation of our life.    

What does life look like with Jesus as the goal?  According to Hebrews 12:2, Jesus represents our goal for He is the author and finisher of our faith.  The antecedents of our Christian walk – those faithful mentioned in Hebrews 11 – offer a dramatic connection to Hebrews 12:1-2, and the exhortation to persevere in our own lives of faith.  Nonetheless, the faithful figures of the past cannot be the base nor the object of our focus.  Only by eyes fixed on Christ Jesus can the “runner” truly persevere.  This is no way deemphasizes the focus of chapter 11, but rather more significantly emphasizes the importance of Jesus being our only true orientation. For, only Jesus has authored our salvation, and He is the only One who will lead us safely Home that day we stand before Him. So, He is indeed the finisher of our faith.  On Him only should our eyes be fixed.  

Today, if you struggle with competing affections and distractions driven by this present culture, re-center on Christ as the only suitable, reasonable, and honorable focus of your life.  Knock down the multiple compartments of your life and place all things under the Lordship of Jesus.  There should not be a difference between “my school self” and my spiritual self.  There should not a difference between “my job self” and my spiritual self.  There should not be a difference between my spiritual self and  “my vacation self” nor my “golf-course self”, nor even my “Facebook or Instagram” self.  If your faith is in Jesus, there is only one version of “you”:  JESUS! 

Today, allow your soul to be confronted with this question: is Jesus the true orientation of my life, or simply one of many of my commitments?  Follow the conviction of the college student I referenced earlier and say “NO” to simply checking off faith in Christ as “done.”  Pursue Him passionately ever day as your greatest affection and commitment under which all other parts of life align. Trust me, you will be glad you did.  

Blessings.

READ

Read Hebrews 12:1-3 and reorient your whole life on the Savior of your soul.  

[1] Paul David Tripp, Website: www.paultripp.com; Wednesday’s Words, January 29, 2020.  

[2] Ibid.