Don't Look at Me!

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God."

                                                                                                                       Hebrews 12:2

  

  Lately I've noticed some very disturbing things around me.  People that I have long admired have had the tendency to let me down. Don't get me wrong, they are still nice people and all, but I've discovered flaws in some of my heroes.  I'm sure that there might be those of you who have looked at me and shuddered when you've seen mistakes I've made and they've caused you to doubt my testimony. 

It kind of reminds me of when I was growing up and there was a famous teenage heart throb and I really liked him. I worshipped him from afar.  Whatever he said, I wanted to read. If he sang, I wanted to hear the song.  I gobbled up everything I could on this person until one day I read something in the paper that made me stop "idolizing" him.  What it was no longer matters, but I realized that I idolized him.  I banished him from my list and no longer listened to his music or read about him in magazines.  He wasn't worthy of my adoration any longer.

Let's face it, people are fallible.  They make mistakes.  They say things to offend, they do things that we don't feel are right. They're human and like all of us are in need of a Savior.  The writer in Hebrews says that we need to fix or focus our eyes on Jesus.  He is the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus is the only person I know that never did anything wrong.  He can be trusted.  He won't mess up or say the wrong thing or hurt someone's feelings.  I know it's easy to look at everyone else and see what they're doing wrong, but when I put my eyes on Jesus, I am letting Him know that He's in charge.  After all, what can we do about another person's life? Isn't that between him and his God? I find that if I am focusing on following God and being what He wants me to be that I no longer have time to worry about what someone else is supposed to be doing. Well, how about you? Do you need to focus more on Christ and less on others?

Dear Father,

Help me to realize that you are the only person I should be looking at. Others will fall and others will fail, but you are perfect. Help me to grow to be more like you.

In Your holy name,

Amen