Where Are You Looking?
I have a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was a gift from God to me through a dear friend. It's a 1997 Road King, a former police bike from Louisiana. It's large and heavy.
There's something about knowing how to handle a larger motorcycle, or any motorcycle for that matter. This is especially true when it comes to making turns.
If you do not look where you plan to turn, you will not make the turn safely, if at all. You must turn your head and look in the direction you want to go to make a safe turn. In other words, the bike is going to go where your head and eyes lead it.
If you were to go through life always looking away from where you wish to go, you would likely have a lot of bruises and some possible other injuries from tripping, bumping into, or falling off things as you walked, because you would not be looking where you are going.
So it is when walking according to the Spirit. You cannot walk according to the Spirit if your eyes and focus are trained on your flesh. If the only thing you can see is your own successes or failures according to the flesh, you will not have the success of your Lord and Savior in your view. It can be hard to look only at yourself and Him at the same time.
It is impossible to look backwards and forwards at the same time. You cannot spend all your time regretting the past and making the forward progress that is available to you. Your eyes must be fixed on where you are going.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
Have you ever thought about what "the sin" actually is? The sin that tends to snare us all at times is the one that seeks to get us to trust in ourselves for righteousness and favor with God. It was Jesus who shed His blood to do away with our sin and bring us before the Father. It can be wearisome and discouraging to look for perfection in myself. But when I consider Him who endured hostility from sinners and shed His blood for me, I am once again encouraged in my journey and back on the path with rejoicing and thanksgiving.
My overcoming sin comes through my looking unto Him so that I know and understand who He is, what He did, and realize that it all applies to me through Him. That in turn tells me who I am and what I am to do in following Him. He will get my attention whenever I get distracted from Him and His purpose for me. He wants me to enjoy the journey with Him. I cannot do that if I am too focused on myself or other things to notice what He is doing and where He is going. I am never more spiritual than when I am walking in faith concerning Him. Faith in myself is not faith in Him.
I need to look to Him if I am to make a turn or turn around, for that matter. Accomplishment in the kingdom comes from looking unto Jesus, not looking unto me.
