Perspective

To do lists, daily tasks, bills, three meals, unexpected turmoil, world news… these items can really cloud our view of where we are headed. We, often times, get caught up considering one of the trees rather than viewing the forest. Balance is essential. If we don’t deal with individual situations, we’ll never get anything done; however, if we get bogged down by these individual circumstances, we’ll run out of motivation for the long haul.

It is utterly important that we realize that all of the events in our lives are ordered by our Heavenly Father. He has set a course for our lives that includes successes, joys, tastes of heaven, and tragedies, sorrows, and tastes of hades. Have you noticed the wording of Hebrews 12:1? “Let us run with endurance the race that is SET BEFORE US.” Who set the race before us? Who determines the course?

The same Father who set the course for our lives set the course for His only begotten Son. As the same passage tells us, Jesus, the “founder and perfecter of our faith,” ran His course with “the joy set before Him.” It was a course filled with pain, sorrow, rejection, and strain. None of these unpleasant parts were magically pleasant for Him.

How do we know He didn’t enjoy the trying times? Who enjoys having to duck through the crowds to avoid being stoned? Who enjoys being hungry, thirsty, tired, or rejected? Who enjoys being whipped, being beaten, being pierced, being bloodied? How about the words of Jesus Himself?

• “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt. 26:38).
• “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt. 26:39).
• “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).

These are not the words of someone enjoying pain, rejection, and sorrow. Isaiah told of that He would be a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3).

Where did the joy come from? Jesus’ joy was found in seeing that these horrors were part of a larger plan. Earlier in Hebrews, we gain some insight on this. “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” Jesus told his disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). Jesus endured the cross to fulfill his Father’s plan, to fulfill the demands of the law, and thus, to obtain the redemption of God’s people.

Jesus’ obedience came with a commendation from his Father (“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” Matt. 17:5), an incomparable inheritance (Heb. 1:2; Psalm 2:8), and a vast number that He is “bringing . . . to glory” and is pleased to call “brothers” (Heb. 2:10-11).

Just as Jesus, when we can see the nitty-gritty of our lives in the context of the gospel, we are encouraged that it all has purpose. We don’t have to like all of the circumstances, but we can recognize that they are part of the race set before us. For those united to Christ through the gospel, we know how this race ends. It ends in fullness of joy in the presence of God forever.

So, friends, sweep the floor, pay that bill, hug your kids, put that bandaid on, do the dishes, cut the lawn, get your physical . . . But don’t forget that it is part of something far more significant than you think. We need to put our lives in perspective.