“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” -Hebrews 12:2
The instruction is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Failure to follow this simple instruction is the root of more problems than we probably realise.
My personal experience is that the enemy will do anything he can to get my eyes off the face of Jesus. I actually don’t think the enemy cares what I’m looking at as long as it’s not the Son of God!
An averted gaze is what the Devil is after.
Most sin in our life starts when we get our eyes off of Jesus! I realize that’s a bold statement, but I absolutely believe it to be true.
The stairway leading down to hell starts when we get our eyes off of Jesus. Knowing the power of earthly distraction the Bible warns us to keep our gaze fixed heavenward.
“Therefore, if you have been raised together with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth.” -Colossians 3:1–2
In this passage in Colossians the Apostle Paul is giving us a preemptive prescription.
An unaverted gaze on the face of Christ is the way to avoid falling into spiritual disease as well as the prescription for spiritual health if you’ve already succumbed to the virus of distraction.
The virus of distraction
Distraction, like a virus, multiplies sickness to your soul. Make no mistake about it, the Devil wants to infect you with distractions.
In our foolishness we fail to recognize how deadly distraction is. Like Eve in the garden, we think if the fruit on the tree looks desirable, and is pleasing to us, that it won’t harm us.
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.” -Genesis 3:6
If you read the entire story it’s interesting to see that when God pointed out the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and told Adam not to eat of it it didn’t create any distraction. God’s prohibition created no temptation for them. It was only after the Devil came along and began to highlight the tree that distraction and temptation entered the picture. Before the Devil came along I don’t have the sense that Eve cared whatsoever about that tree in the midst of the garden. Eve was focused on God and I don’t think the tree really mattered to her! The Devil’s work was to bring her into distraction and to get her face off of God.
In order for the Devil to trick us about the goodness and love of God toward us he first must get our face off of God. As long as we’re looking at God we’ll be convinced of God’s love! We only begin to doubt the love that God has for us when we take our eyes off of Him.
I wonder how many times Eve kept looking back at the tree after the Devil highlighted the fruit on it? How many times a day did she think about it?? How long did it take for the desire that she had for it to build to the point where she reached out to take it?
Wasn’t God more desirable than a piece of fruit dangling on a tree? But Eve got distracted by the desirability of a piece of fruit, and it made her forget the face of God!
Eve got distracted and as she looked away she lost her focus on God and got it on something else. With her eyes off God, beholding that something else was desirable, she reached out for it!
How long do you think the progression took? It started with a look, an averted gaze, and it all went downhill from there.
Examine the experience of your own life and see if what I’m saying here is true.
Didn’t the cause of your sin and distress start the moment you began to look away from Jesus because of some distraction? Trace your steps back and you will almost certainly find that before you fell assorted distractions came your way. You may even find that the more serious sins in your life were actually conceived at the moment you looked away from God and got distracted by some little thing that had nothing to do with the sin you ultimately fell into.
The Devil uses distractions to set you up for the fall! The longer you take your eyes off of Jesus the weaker you get and the more prone you are to falling into sin.
You’ve been warned!
We can’t say that we don’t know better. Jesus clearly warns us about the power of distractions and the devastating effect they have on us.
“Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” -Mark 4:18-19
- Distracted by the worries of life
- Distracted by attaining wealth
- Distracted by our desire for “other things”
What a broad brush Jesus paints with here when He speaks of “other things”. There are so many things in life that can distract us that Jesus can’t even list them all!
How easily we read passages like this from 1st John but fail to heed what it says!
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.” -1 John 2:15-16
The uncomfortable truth is that the world takes our eyes off of Jesus. The Word of God warns us about this over and over again and we ignore it to our own peril.
“You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.” -James 4:4
The world system is anti-Christ at it’s core.
“The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” -1 John 5:19
The world system is at the heart of Satan’s plan to bring believers into distraction with the intent of averting our gaze from the face of Jesus. Satan wants you to have a wandering eye filled with affection for the things of the world!
One of the most important things that you can ever do for your spiritual life is to develop a single eye. Intimacy with God is not developed by having a wandering eye!
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” -Matthew 6:22
In this passage Jesus is talking about the importance of having an unaverted gaze upon God. He goes on to talk about the distraction of wealth.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” -Matthew 6:24
Jesus uses the illustration of eyesight to talk about a condition of the heart. He tells us in no uncertain terms that a divided heart creates a situation that brings internal opposition where our distractions war against our relationship with God. He uses eyesight to illustrate the fact that it’s only possible to look at one thing and focus on it at a time. What we focus on gets our attention and fills our heart and mind.
Jesus is pointing out the necessity of an unaverted gaze. What we look at is what will attract us, and what attracts us, is what we move towards!
I wish I didn’t have to say it so plainly, but a wandering eye leads to adultery. This is why the Apostle James tells us that those who have their affections set on the world are “adulteresses”.
“You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” -James 4:4
James is simply repeating what Jesus taught. A divided heart and a wandering eye creates an environment that tears at the fabric of our relationship with God. It creates a situation of hostility in our relationship with Him.
Consider for a moment what happens when a spouse has a wandering eye and falls into adultery. Even if their partner is unaware of what’s happening, the one who is committing adultery will begin to develop hostility toward their spouse. They will find themselves hating their spouse more and more as they sink deeper and deeper into adultery! This is precisely what the Bible warns Christians about when it comes to our relationship with God.
“So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.” -James 4:4
We must take this very seriously, because the Word of God tells us that the path away from God is the way of distraction. Jesus tells us that there’s a narrow path that “leads to life”, and a broad path that “leads to destruction”.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
The broad path is filled with distractions. The narrow path is Jesus Himself!
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” – John 14:6
Lured Away by Vanity Fair
In John Bunyan’s allegorical book, Pilgrim’s Progress, he refers to the world as “Vanity” and within the world there is a carnival Bunyan calls “Vanity Fair”. The atmosphere of Vanity Fair is filled with every distracting thing. Carnival barkers call out from every direction. The sites, the sounds, the smells, the distractions of the greatest fair on earth are everywhere to be found here. His character named “Christian” must pass through Vanity Fair on the way to the Celestial City. Although Christian is in the world, he is not of it, and must resist the temptations that are everywhere all around him. They come in every form- From the greatest evil to those things that may rightly be considered good, but are nevertheless, distractions. If you’re on the way to the Celestial City you don’t want to get sidetracked by Vanity Fair. It’s whole purpose is to distract you away from the place that you’re traveling to!
I quote at length from Bunyan’s book…
“Then I saw in my dream, that, when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long…
Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not.
And, moreover, at this fair there are at all times to be seen juggling, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind.
Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood-red color.”
The distractions of the world are constantly warring against our soul. For this reason the Word of God is absolutely plain concerning how we are to navigate our time here on earth.
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth.” -Colossians 3:2
The Life is in the Son
The Life of God is found as we abide in Christ. Let’s fix our gaze on His face and maintain an unaverted gaze.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” -2 Corinthians 3:18
Everything that we long for and desire as the Children of God happens as we behold Him.
The great secret of the christian life is found in maintaining an unaverted gaze upon the face of Jesus.
This is perhaps one of the simplest and most powerful truths of the Bible. Satan knows about it and that’s why he keeps trying to get you to look away from the face of Jesus! If you will begin to develop an unaverted gaze on the Son of God it will absolutely change your life.
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.” -1 John 5:11-12