Pressing Forward

Sometimes it’s easy to get sidetracked and lose focus from what we’re supposed to be doing.  It happens all the time- you pause in the office to catch a news report on TV or listen on the radio; you answer the door while cooking dinner and it ends up burning; you’re typing a paper and you find yourself on Facebook somehow… it happens.

And sometimes we get sidetracked by things that are not necessarily bad things, but they still distract us from what needs to be accomplished.

I have felt this way lately in my relationship with Jesus.  There is a certain side to pastoring where you are always learning.  You’re always reading, studying Scripture, analyzing theological positions, etc.  And, honestly, many times that becomes a distraction to what should really be happening in your life.

Here’s what I mean:  

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking 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.   (Hebrews 12:1-2  ESV)

Isn’t it easy to let sin and other weights distract us from keeping our focus on where it should be- on Jesus Christ and His cross.  Lately, I’ve been so wrapped up in theological arguments that I’ve put a certain system of beliefs above Jesus, or I’ve given more value to a theologian than to Jesus.

I’ve lost sight of the cross.  That’s the main point.  I’m worrying too much about trying to figure out what some Scriptures mean and not just reading God’s Word in awe of who He is.

It’s not wrong to try to understand Scripture or hold a certain position on a certain issue, but when that understanding and holding replace the awe resulting from the cross of Jesus, we are simply being disobedient to Scripture that tells us to look to Jesus instead of the things that weigh us down.

Let’s find a balance between increasing knowledge and being in awe of who Jesus is and what He’s done on the cross for us.