Stop Looking at Others

Some of the saddest letters and emails I have received over the years have been from Christians who lost their faith in God because of the conduct of other believers. These disillusioned saints made the mistake of taking their eyes off of Jesus, and focusing on their brothers and sisters in Christ, instead. As a result, when they saw those people they admired stumble, their own faith faltered, and they began backsliding and settling for a life of mediocrity.

The author of Hebrews wrote: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1,2 NIV) The Bible often compares our faith walk to a race, and it warns us against focusing on other contestants. It also reveals that if we want to fulfill our God-given purpose and potential, then we must keep our eyes on Jesus, who not only gave us the measure of faith we needed to believe in the first place, but who will also work with us to build and perfect our faith as we cooperate with His Spirit and follow His lead.

If you are struggling in your faith today, let me encourage you to spend some time in the Scriptures, and study how Jesus ran His own race. Ask Him to help you to follow in His footsteps, so that you can live the abundant life that He died for you to have. As you follow Christ’s example, you will discover your God-given destiny–and a life filled with true meaning and purpose!