He Perfects Our Faith.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Hebrews 12:2a

used from http://www.paperandglam.com/blog/hope-faith-love/

This scripture contains a concept that is often difficult to grasp.  In essence it’s telling us that Jesus, our defender, is responsible for starting whatever faith it is we have and is continually working on us to make it a complete and faultless faith.  For those of us that are human and full of faults, this seems not only an insurmountable task, but an impossible one.  Though it seems impossible, as Christians we ought to know that what seems impossible from a human perspective is inconsequential, because “with God all things are possible.”  Although true, that truth may still seem difficult to grasp.  For that reason it is important to understand the scripture surrounding that verse.  In verse 1 the writer tells us:

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

He’s telling us that there is a huge crowd of people that came before us that demonstrated faith.  In The Message, Eugene Peterson calls them pioneers who blazed the way of our faith.  He tells us that we need to run the race set before us (reference to Phil 3:12-14) and that we can’t do that without doing away with the weights and sins that hold us back.  Things like the legalistic stuff of religion, desires connected to our life before Jesus, and the sins we continue to struggle with.  Those, and many others, are weights that keep us from running full speed toward God.  But how?  How do we strip off those things?  It’s more than just behavior modification.  This is where verse 2 and 3 come into play:

² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. ³ Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

Here’s the truth of those verses… Jesus enables us to strip off the weight of the world and have victory over the sin that “trips us up” when we look to Him.  Again, Eugene Peterson says that we look to Jesus “who both began and finished this race we’re in.” and we are to “Study how he did it.”  We get to see Jesus and study how He did it by reading His words (the Bible), by talking to Him in prayer, and by living in Gospel-centered community.  When we look to Him, we get to see all He endured and how great the reward He received.  This should create intimacy between us and Him and encourage us to press on.  When we know He endured what we are enduring, then we won’t give up.  It’s inside this intimacy that He gives us perfect faith.  This perfect faith allows us to boldly approach God to receive our prize, that is Jesus.

He perfects your faith, so you can #ApproachGod.

He Stepped Down From His Throne

For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.

~ John 6:38 & 39 ~

Think about the implication of what Jesus says in this verse.  He said that He came down from heaven.  He departed the holy place where He had dwelt for eternity.  He stepped down from His throne into the mire of a fallen world.  The God of the universe, the Creator of all things humbled Himself and came down to us.  And He did it for what?  To prove how big He was?  To make Himself known to His subjects? To punish the wickedness of humanity?  No.  It was for you.  He simply came for you.  He abdicated His throne and His rightful authority and came to lift us up and restore us to our God.  And while here, He served and loved and healed and showed us a God that desires us. 

Jesus came not to relate to us, He already knew us (Jer 1:5).  He came so that we might learn to relate to Him.  He came so that we would know that our God does know us and that He understands our struggle.  He came so that we would know that we can approach Him.  He called all that are weary to come to Him (Matt 11:28-30).  Yet even though He called us to Himself, He bridged the entire expanse of the gap that separated us from Him.  He did it so that we could see what it looks like for a loving King to step down from His throne and rescue His people.  The truth that our God took the place of a servant among us, to show His love and reconcile us, bears too much weight to ignore.

He stepped down from His throne, so you could #ApproachGod.