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 (Hebrews 12:2).
Faith has eyes only for Jesus; that is God-like faith. Faith cannot bear to look at anything else. This is why the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes, “Looking unto Jesus,” which in a recent blog we explained means, “looking away to Jesus.” In the
eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the focus was on the faith of men. But now, he encourages us to no longer look at men, no matter how inspirational they may be, and instead to set our eyes of faith on Jesus.
Faith cannot survive long without seeing Jesus, its only object. As long as it beholds His
glory, it thrives. Like a rose that loves sunshine and develops in the sun’s rays, faith
develops in the rays of Jesus’ excellence.
To keep your faith strong keep Christ your focus. If you would be a person of faith, do
not take your gaze off the Author and Finisher of faith. To excel in faith, avoid anything
that distracts from the object of faith—Jesus. Learn to keep your eyes solely on Him.
This is so important that you must resist the greatest temptation of all: the temptation to
focus on the promises of God. Quite often, it is said so casually that we must keep
faith’s eye on the promises of God. But casualness is not godly rest; far from it!
Casualness is the devil’s nest. It is to lie in the enemy’s lair. Vigilance is faith’s friend,
and we must not become casual with the things of God, especially faith.
There is much truth in the idea that the promises of God are the food of faith. God’s
promises nourish our faith. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”
(Romans 10:17). However, the promises of God encourage faith only because they are
indeed the promises of God. It is the character of God that makes His promises reliable.
What sets one man’s promises apart from another’s? The integrity of one and the
absence of it in another. It would be more accurate to say that the impeccable character
of God is the foundation of faith. Faith delights in perceiving the infinite God and lovingly
trusting in the treasure of God’s being.
Someone may ask, “How do you separate God’s promise from God? Aren’t they one
and the same?” Yes, a man’s word is an expression of his heart, and this is equally true
of our Father. However, it is not the promises themselves that faith relies on, but the
One who makes those promises believable.
This is where the devil’s trickery comes into play. He will try to shift your focus from the
Promiser to the promise, or even better, to what is being promised. If your attention is
on what has been promised to you, your faith will start to waver. It will waver for one of
three reasons.
First, if you focus on the promised thing, the promise may soon appear challenging. You
begin to think that the promise can’t come true because the thing promised seems too
big or extravagant. It may seem too difficult to happen.
Second, similar to the first reason for faith to waver, focusing on the promise may cause
you to turn your attention to yourself. When that occurs, your faith will hinge on how you
perceive yourself. As long as you feel you have faith, you will feel encouraged; however,
the moment you begin to lose that sense of faith, you will sink into fear, frustration, and
despair.
The third reason faith may waver when the eyes of faith are diverted to the thing
promised is that you may start to idolize it. It can become more important to you than
the Lord. Your joy may be found in the anticipation of the fulfillment rather than in Him
who has promised. This is one of the most subtle forms of idolatry. Unless the Lord of
mercy reveals your sin, you may maintain this idolatry and do so while calling it faith in
God.
When the soul is forced to stop its devoted attention to Christ, faith cannot be sustained.
It will waver and eventually fade. Do you see this, my friend? Has the promise you
believe God has made become all-consuming? If so, have you not yet noticed the
challenge of keeping your faith strong?
What is the answer? You must die to the very thing God promised—more about this in
our next posting.
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