Ours or His?

 Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal. (E. Joseph Cossman)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Obstacles will come and go in our life, but we don't have to fix our gaze so intently on them that we forget about all the other stuff around us. We have particularly 'obstacle' ridden roadways in some areas of the valley. If you are not careful, you will quickly encounter fallen construction materials, ladders, mattresses, and even furniture riddling the highways. You might not see them until you are right up on them, but as long as you don't focus solely on them, you can usually navigate around them quite safely. In terms of 'obstacles' such as financial troubles, health concerns, and even family drama, the 'navigation' can sometimes be a little more difficult. It is easy to get our eyes so fixed on the issues that we forget who holds us up as we navigate 'through' and not just 'around' those issues.

Unnecessary weights really do 'entangle' us, especially when those 'weights' are the obstacles of life we must navigate through. Running with endurance and active persistence may seem a little out of our ability, especially in the difficult times of life, but there are more strength and wisdom available to us just by remaining with a 'fixed focus' as we navigate life. All the distractions of life are really obstacles to our forward progress with Jesus. The enemy of our souls wants nothing more than to keep us from focusing our eyes on Jesus. As we face obstacles (challenges), the 'key' to navigating them is given to us in this scripture: "Just consider and meditate on HIM..." 

His authority is bigger, stronger, and even more 'enduring' than any other authority we might imagine. His ability to complete any work that he has begun in us will always outdo or outweigh any of the distracting influences that attempt to get us tripped up and off course with Jesus. He accomplished HIS goal so that we could accomplish OURS. He went all the way to the cross, grave, and then rose again, all because OUR sins needed HIS intervention. We see obstacles as "OURS", but Jesus sees them as HIS. When we remind ourselves that he is our focus (our goal), those things that we claimed were OURS to deal with might just take on a different light. In fact, we might just see how we are to navigate them a little clearer as we keep our focus on him and not the obstacle. Just sayin!