October 17, 2022
Daily Devotion:
"Eyes Firmly Fixed…"
Hebrews 12:2
New International Version
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The enraptured shepherds who first fixed their eyes on Jesus in Bethlehem Could never have guessed the scene witnessed some thirty years later by those who fixed their eyes on Jesus at Golgotha. To have beheld the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and seen his sleepy little eyes must have been the most sublime view in all of history-apart from the horrendous scenes at the cross itself. Wouldn't you love to have been there with Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus? And how could one ever forget the sight of Jesus hanging in agony on that rugged Roman cross? Was there anyone, apart from Mary, who witnessed both the manger and the cross? Imagine the utter joy with Which Mary must have fixed her eyes upon Jesus for the very first time. Then imagine the unspeakable maternal anguish she must have felt, seeing Jesus hanging before her in the throes of an agonizing death. What thoughts must have been running through her mind at the foot of the cross? Did she think back on the angel who announced she would soon be with a child by the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus' life as a youngster in Nazareth flash before her? Or perhaps the tumultuous events of his ministry? To fix our own eyes on Jesus is to replay the story from beginning to end. It Is to see God in the person of a first-century Jewish baby who redefined history and reshaped the way of salvation. It is to see ourselves reflected in his grace filled face and to acknowledge that only through Jesus can we find peace in whatever cross we bear.
The question of joyful endurance is: Do my eyes merely glance occasionally at the person of Jesus, or are my eyes firmly fixed on every aspect of his divine person?
