
Hebrews 12:1-3
Message No. 0702 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca
I understand the game of soccer and I sometimes watch it when matches are played life, especially among nations. While there’s 22 players running about on the field, I see that they are not running aimlessly. Everyone who is running is running towards the ball or in anticipation that the ball might be kicked towards his or her direction. Even in American football (otherwise called rugby in some other regions), which I do not understand, I see a ball, played with hands (by the way), and everyone is struggling to catch it and make a run with it. We can name any other sport that is played with a ball, basketball, volleyball, and others, and we will see that every player is alert and keeping his or her eyes on the ball.
The English idiom, eye on the ball, is a phrase used to mean stay focused, stay attentive and ready or to pay attention to what you are doing at the particular time. In general, the phrase means to remain alert to the events occurring around you. Any athlete who does not keep his or her eyes (heart or mind) on the finish line will lose the race. Imagine driving at 140 kilometers per hour and looking at your phone instead of keeping your eyes and your mind on the road. God forbid the outcome of that recklessness.
As Christians, the Bible also tells us to keep our eye on the Ball. In Hebrews 12:2, the Bible says:
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.
This is one of the most important instructions in the Bible, because, just as the footballer or basketballer who takes his or her eyes away from the ball is likely to be pulled out of the match, any Christian who is distracted from the race we are running will be pushed off the track and will not get to the finish line. Though there are too many sources of distraction for us, we just cannot afford to be distracted. In 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, the Bible warns us to:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Our enemy is working constantly to get our attention, to keep our focus away from Christ, to get us into the sin that so easily besets us, to alter our priorities and place them more firmly on the things of this world, matters that do not yield eternal fruits and activities that may make us and people around us happy, but have no bearing with heaven’s agenda for us. We cannot afford to be distracted, or what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul (Mark 8:36).
We cannot say that we have not been adequately warned. We who live in these last days are seeing Bible prophecies and predictions fulfilled right under our noses. When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he warned him in chapter 3 verses 1 – 5, and these warnings are even more relevant to us today:
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
We must treat anything that will make us to miss heaven as enemy number one, because what’s the point after all is said and done, if we miss eternal life? So let us be watchful of the life we live and the things we do and the people and things we interact with, to be sure that we remain focused on the target that our God has set for us. Let us keep our eyes on the ball because we can make it, and make it we will, in Jesus’ name.
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PLEASE ACT NOW:
If you are yet to give your life to Christ, you do not have a covenant with God and His promises do not apply to you. To come under these promises, please surrender your life to Christ today, by praying this prayer:
Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!
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