Devotion 6: Where Is Jesus Now?

When I think of a race, my mind often pictures the sidelines and the people who are there, cheering for their loved ones, excited to see them put forth their best effort to win. You all can picture the best sideliners: the ones that cheer the loudest, clapping, hooting, and hollering to be the best encouragement they can be to their runner. As the writer of Hebrews paints a picture of the race of life, we can feel tempted to imagine Jesus in this way, as someone who is on the sidelines wanting to see us run the race of our lives and be as successful as we can be. As if that isn’t an amazing enough encouragement, Hebrews chapter twelve paints us an even better picture of Jesus’ involvement in our lives.

In Hebrews, the author is driving home the point that our lives are a race, not a sprint, but an endurance run. The start of a long race is easy. You are rested, hydrated, and it feels like you could run forever. To finish that endurance run is much harder, especially if you are not focused on the right thing. For us to finish our race well, that is to live a life that is God-honoring, we must understand something fundamental: where we focus our attention matters. Over the course of this week, we have read that fixing our eyes on Jesus is integral to this race, not just because Jesus is an encouragement to us, but also because of where He is now.

Hebrews 12:2 reads, “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Notice at the end that the author draws special attention to where Jesus is now. This is not the position of someone who is passive or distant. Christ is seated “at the right hand of the throne of God.” This seat is a position of victory and authority. There, Christ reigns as King, interceding for His people. Hebrews calls us to look to the One who is alive, victorious, and actively involved in our race.

Christ has endured the shame of the cross and emerged victorious. If He is reigning, then our race is certain. If He is interceding, then we are not running alone. Jesus has run this race perfectly. When we fix our eyes on Him and see that He is, all at once, cheering for us from the sideline, waiting excitedly for us at the finish line, and running alongside us in our day-to-day, we are confronted with the simple, yet profoundly difficult question, “Will I follow Him?” Not just in terms of salvation, but in the moments where our eyes wander, when we veer off-course, will we look back to Him and follow?

This passage pushes us to fix our eyes on Jesus, throw off our hindrances, and run with endurance because we know how the story ends. God calls us to let go of everything else and simply focus on Him, not to burden us, but to free us to run well. Run the race of life well. Place your eyes and your trust in Him. Endure this present hardship by keeping your focus on the One who has the victory and run to Him.