My Eyes Are FixedSample

Knowing how hard it is to stay encouraged, the writer of Hebrews urges us to “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb. 12:3). Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel. In the moments when it’s almost too hard to breathe, He will carry you. He will renew and restore your strength. There is no greater joy than to lay your head on His bosom and rest a peaceful rest. He will rock you and speak peace to your soul and life to your bones. Keep your eyes on Him.

When Bill Broadhurst was eighteen he had an aneurysm on the right side of his brain. It caused the left side of his body to be partially paralyzed. After ten years he was finally able to walk without a cane, though he still had a noticeable limp. He always wanted to be a runner, so he signed up for the Pepsi Challenge 10,000-meter race in Omaha, Nebraska. When the starter pistol sounded on that July morning in 1981, the runners were off and thirty minutes later the winner, Bill Rodgers, crossed the finish line. But after two hours and twenty minutes, Bill Broadhurst was still running. There was no one in sight, and his left side was numb. His body screamed with pain, but he was determined to finish. He held 1 Corinthians 9:27 in his heart, thinking of Paul’s encouragement for believers to run with endurance. The sky was getting dark when he finally reached the finish line. The crowds were gone. The banners had been taken down. But he hobbled along and finally made it across the finish line. And from the shadows, Bill Rodgers the marathon winner, emerged, along with a group of friends. Rodgers took his gold medal from his own neck and placed it on Broadhurst, declaring him the winner.

That had to be a moment of pure joy. Finally making it across the finish line and your hero welcoming you with open arms. My friend, it will be like that if we endure, through seasons of weariness and struggle. Jesus our Savior will welcome us across that final finish line.

In a message on this text, Spurgeon said, “The race of holiness and patience, while it demands our vigor, displays our weakness. We are compelled, even before we take a step in the running, to bow the knee, and cry unto the strong for strength.” So we rejoice in knowing that there is strength in Him that helps us run our race. The old Negro spiritual says: “Walk together children, don’t you get weary. There’s a great camp meeting in the Promised Land!” We don’t give up because there is a great camp meeting in the sky. We don’t give up because kingdom joy awaits us.