Keep your eyes on the finishing tape...
Guilderton is a small coastal hamlet about an hour and a bit north of Perth up the Lancelin road. Did you know that in 1931 someone found 40 Dutch silver guiders in the sand-hills at the entrance of the river? They believe the coins may have come from a Dutch 17th century ship that hit the reef just off the coast. I can imagine the coin’s finders couldn’t believe their luck when they happened upon their find.Life more often than not, isn’t about luck. It’s mostly about endurance. Persevering through illness, disabilities, relationships, employment, just life in general. Occasionally we have mountain top experiences and they are pure gold but going through the valleys is the ‘stuff of life’.Last weekend 16 ladies headed up the Lancelin road to Guilderton to retreat from the ‘stuff of life’ and spend some time reflecting on God’s faithfulness that enables all of us to persevere, not only in hard times but more importantly in our walk with Jesus Christ.We took those great verses in Hebrews 12:1-3 ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ --- and looked at what it was saying to us.Here were some of the points we came up with:
- The witnesses from the previous chapter 11 could all testify to the utter faithfulness of God.
- Life is more like riding the ‘ghost train’ than a pleasant river cruise. There will be hard times and opposition in following Jesus so why are we so shocked when it happens. Jesus endured hostility and so will we.
- To fix your eyes on Jesus means we have to actively look away at all those rival attractions that seek to lure us into a false sense of eternal security. Imagine Cathy Freeman in the 400 mtr final at the Sydney 2000 Olympics mid way through the race running off the track to give her mum a hug. She would have never won the race if she didn’t keep her eyes fixed on that track right to the finish
- Jesus is worth fixing our eyes on. He is faithful from beginning to the very end of time and wants to perfect faithfulness in us, if we’ll let him.
The Hebrew Christians were under huge pressure from without (physical persecution) and within (their Jewish background) and give up on their faith in Jesus. As God’s people, he has given us everything we need to help us persevere in this life:-His faithful word, Jesus’ example in life, death and resurrection , the Holy Spirit in our lives, the ongoing blessings of our covenant relationship with the Father, an exciting adventure, I could go on to the end of the page!Lets persevere together and encourage one another in the process.BlessingsCheryl