Joy Fills Our Eyes

Good morning…

Quickly scrolling through some old text messages between myself and two best friends, what stood out to me from the long sea of words was the pictures. The three images below captured my attention before God added an encouraging commentary.

Wearied by the world, can we endure the powerful process of God’s transformation? Beautiful wings carry us. Symbols of lasting love surround us. Old bindings fall off as we freely fly forward. Might we keep our eyes focused on the beauty, the love, the freedom God is orchestrating?

As Jesus-followers, our path forward is already paved, through death of the old into resurrected new life. What filled Jesus’ eyes as he paved for us God’s eternal pathway?

Joy!

Jesus focussed on the joy set before him instead of the pain of the cross. Might we do the same?

So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne (Hebrews 12:1-3, CEB).