We can live the Christian life and run the Christian race by looking away unto Jesus with undivided attention by turning away from every other object and thing that distracts us from Him; He is the Author, Originator, source, and cause of our faith! Hallelujah!
On one hand, we need to realize that our Christian life is a race – we are running a race in our Christian life to gain the prize of God’s high calling.
And this race is nothing but Christ Himself, for He is both the way and the reality and the life, and our goal is to gain more and more of Christ for eternity.
We need to run this race with endurance, putting away anything that encumbers or stops us from running.
On the other hand, we run the race not by our strength or zeal but by looking away unto Jesus, the One who is the initiator of our faith and who will also perfect our faith.
He went before us; He cut the way into glory, He lived the perfect Christian life, and His God-man living is before us to imitate by looking away unto Him.
As we run the race with endurance, we ask the Lord to direct our hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.
It is only by His directing our hearts into the love of God and the endurance of Christ that we can love Him and run after Him.
It’s good to take the word of God as our prayer book and simply pray these things to the Lord.
We may see that there are many burdens, impediments, and weights that pull us down in our running the Christian race, so we need to simply pray to Him.
We can tell Him, Lord, draw me to run after You! Keep me running the Christian race. I want to put away anything that encumbers and hinders me from running.
I want to run the Christian race to obtain the prize of God’s high calling! Direct my heart into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.
As we open to the Lord and pray in this way. making His word our prayer, He has a way to work in us what we cannot do in ourselves.
The Christian life is not a deliberate life, something that we work really hard to train ourselves to live.
Rather, it is a spontaneous life, a life that we live by faith spontaneously, effortlessly, and even naturally.
It has to be natural that we live one spirit with the Lord and live by faith, not by sight.
So we need to offer Him many short and living prayers throughout the day, turning to Him, opening to Him, and receiving His divine dispensing to allow Him to work in us and do in us what we cannot do.
May we look away from any other thing unto the Lord Jesus to run the race with endurance!
Run the Christian Race by Looking Away unto Jesus with Undivided Attention and by Turning away from every other Object
How do we run the Christian race? How do we live the Christian life? It is by looking away unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2).
We can live the Christian life, and run the Christian race, by looking away unto Jesus with undivided attention by turning away from every other object.
It’s not just by looking to Jesus but by LOOKING AWAY UNTO Jesus; this means that there are a lot of things that demand our attention and try to catch our view, so we look away from all things unto Jesus.
We need to look away from a lot of things in our environment that can distract us from the Lord.
We may look at the Christians around us and be disappointed with the way they live, or we may look at the elders in the church and we may think their life is not Christ-like.
We need to look away unto Jesus from anything else, and our attention on Him has to be undivided!
We may be in our time with the Lord and suddenly we remember something or we are reminded to call someone; we need to look away unto Jesus!
We can run the Christian race by looking away unto Jesus with undivided attention!
The Hebrew believers were very distracted by the Jewish religion and practices, and they kept looking back as they were following the Lord.
Therefore, Paul told them to look away unto Jesus, for He is the Author and Perfecter of their faith.
Jesus Himself, as He was running the race, looked to the joy set before Him, and for this, He endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
As we look away unto Jesus from all other things, He infuses Himself into us to become our faith, and we run the Christian life by faith.
He Himself becomes our ability to believe into the Lord. We need to walk by faith and live by faith; we can do this only by continually looking away unto Jesus.
We may have problems, and the problems may get bigger and bigger as we go on.
Even when we have to deal with problems, we need to look to the Lord, be with the Lord, and allow the Lord to be everything to us.
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the people of faith mentioned in Heb. 11 lived by faith; now it is our turn, as faith people, to run the Christian race by looking away unto Jesus with undivided attention.
The world is not worthy of us; we as faith people are extra-people, a people on the highest plane of whom the corrupted world is not worthy.
May we look away at the wonderful Jesus who is enthroned in heaven!
![I drew them with cords of a man, / With bands of love; / And I was to them like those / Who lift off the yoke on their jaws; / And I gently caused them to eat. Hosea 11:4 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, [saying,] / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love; / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Jer. 31:3](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/I-drew-them-with-cords-of-a-man-With-bands-of-love-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "I drew them with cords of a man, / With bands of love; / And I was to them like those / Who lift off the yoke on their jaws; / And I gently caused them to eat. Hosea 11:4 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, [saying,] / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love; / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Jer. 31:3")
He is crowned with glory and honour (Heb. 2:9), and He is the greatest attraction in the universe; He’s like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Himself.
As we look away unto Jesus, we are attracted by His charming beauty, and we look away from all things other than Him.
Without Him being such a charming object and magnetizing person, we cannot look away from so many distracting things on this earth.
He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Him (Song of Songs 1:4; Hosea 11:4; Jer. 31:3).
As we pray that He would draw us, He reveals Himself to us and we simply run after Him.
As we are personally drawn by the Lord with His beauty, many others will also be attracted to Him through us to run after Him.
He draws us with chors of a man, with bands of love. As we read the Gospels and see His wonderful human living, we behold His beauty, and we are drawn to Him to run after Him.
The love of God reaches us in the humanity of Jesus, and it is by being attracted by His charming, beauty, loveliness, pleasantness, and delightfulness that we look away from all other things than Him (Psa. 27:4).
Lord Jesus, we want to run the Christian race by looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith! Amen, Lord, draw us, we will run after You! Attract us with Your beauty. May we see Your loveliness, pleasantness, delightfulness, and charming beauty to be infused with You as our faith and run the Christian race. Infuse us with Yourself as our faith and our ability to run the race. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we run after You. You are the wonderful Jesus who is enthroned in heaven and crowned with glory and honour! We are just drawn to You, dear Lord, for You are like an immense magnet drawing us to Yourself! We look away with undivided attention unto You and we run the Christian race by faith!
Jesus is the Author, Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner, and Perfecter of our Faith
![...Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith... Heb. 12:2 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God. Eph. 2:8](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Jesus-the-Author-and-Perfecter-of-our-faith-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "...Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith... Heb. 12:2 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God. Eph. 2:8")
Why do we need to look away unto Jesus with undivided attention so that we may be able to run the Christian race?
It is because only Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2).
Faith doesn’t originate from us and, even though we may be a believer for many years, faith still is not something we come up with on our own.
Jesus is the Author of faith – He’s the Originator, the Inaugurator, the Source and the Cause of faith.
He is the One who initiates faith in us; by looking away unto Him, we are infused with Him as our believing ability, and we simply believe.
Before Paul met Christ, he was persecuting His followers; when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus and saw the Lord, he simply believed.
He didn’t need to be convinced of this or that – he simply believed.
When we look away unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) infuses Himself into us; He transfuses His believing element into us.
We can run the Christian race by looking away unto Jesus for He’s the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
When we look at other people, even at other believers, we may get disappointed; the Lord Jesus, however, never disappoints us.
As we look away unto Him, we are filled with encouragement and hope, and faith rises up in us.
According to our natural man, we have no believing ability; the faith we have through which we are saved is not of ourselves but it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
God has allotted faith equally precious by His gift (2 Pet. 1:1). And He is infusing us with faith as we look away unto Jesus with undivided attention.
When we fellowship with the Lord, He infuses Himself into us to become our very ability to believe.
This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us so that He may believe for us.
Therefore, He is the Author of our faith; he originates our faith, and our faith is actually the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:20).
He is the Author and the Originator of faith mainly in His life and in His path on earth; He originated faith when He was here on earth.
![...to those who have been allotted faith equally precious as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:1 ... I live in faith, the [faith] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal. 2:20](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/to-those-who-have-been-allotted-faith-equally-precious-as-ours-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "...to those who have been allotted faith equally precious as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. 1:1 ... I live in faith, the [faith] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal. 2:20")
When Jesus was on earth, He lived a life of faith, and the path He walked was a path of faith.
When we look away unto Jesus with undivided attention, we are infused with faith, for He is the Author and originator of faith. He inaugurated faith, He’s the Pioneer who lived by faith.
He cut the way of faith to be the forerunner, the Pioneer of the way of faith.
When we look away unto Jesus and see His human living, His attitude, His actions and words, we are infused with faith, and we can live a life by faith as He did.
He’s the Leader, the Captain of faith; He can carry us through the pathway of faith in His footsteps.
As believers in Christ, we follow in the Lord’s footsteps, and we live the same kind of life that He lived, running the Christian race by faith by looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
As we look away from our situation, our condition, and all the things around us, unto Jesus, He transfuses Himself into us, and faith rises up in us.
He initiates faith in us, He leads us on the path of faith, He carries us through the pathway of faith, and He perfects our faith. He is everything to us: we simply need to look away unto Him!
Amen, Lord, we look away unto You, the Author and Perfecter of our faith! We acknowledge that in ourselves we have no faith, for in our natural man there’s no believing ability. But we come to You, Lord, to receive the gift of God, the equally precious faith which has been allotted to us! Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself; transfuse Yourself as faith into us. We open to Your infusing and transfusing of Yourself into us. Amen, Lord, we live by You as our faith, by the faith of Jesus Christ, not by our own faith. Perfect our faith, Lord, and carry us through the pathway of faith in Your footsteps. Infuse us with the faith which You have originated and perfected so that we may run the Christian race by faith!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 551-553 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, God’s Economy in Faith (2022 spring ITERO), week 4, entitled, Running the Christian Race So That We May Obtain the Prize by Looking Away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of Our Faith.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Look away into His face—Hallelujah, / He who’ll finish what He did begin. / O what grace to run the race—Hallelujah— / We obtain by looking off to Him! / Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! (Hymns #1206)
– The wonderful Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven, / And crowned with glory and honor, is the greatest / Attraction in the universe. / He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His / Seekers to Him. / It is by being attracted / By His charming beauty that we look away, / From all things other than Him. / Without such a charming object, how could we look away / From so many distracting things / On this earth? (Song on, The Wonderful Jesus)
– O Lord, it’s not of us, we’ve seen it’s all of You; / You are the calling One, Originator too! / We can receive this call by our beholding You— / O God of glory, come, we pray. / O God of glory, come today; / We’ve seen this is the only way / To answer Your dear call / That You might be our all— / O God of glory, come today. (Hymns #1190)
About aGodMan
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Jesus is the Author and the Originator of faith mainly in His life and in His path on earth. The Lord Jesus originated faith when He was here on earth. The life He lived was a life of faith, and the path He walked was a path of faith. In His life and path He originated faith. Hence, He is the Author of faith. Jesus, being the Pioneer and the Forerunner, has cut the way of faith. If you read the four Gospels again, you will see that His life was a cutting life, a life that cut the way of faith. Jesus is also the Leader, the Captain, of faith… Hence, He, as the Leader, can carry us through the pathway of faith in His footsteps. As we look unto Him as the Originator of faith in His life and in His path on earth, and as the Perfecter of faith in His glory and on His throne in heaven, He transfuses and even infuses us with the faith which He has originated and perfected. Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 551-553, by Witness Lee
look away from anything and anyone else unto Jesus! He’s the most charming One, the most lovely One, the immense magnet drawing all His seekers to Himself! It is by Looking Away unto Him that we can run the Christian race.
To look away unto Jesus is to look at Him with undivided attention, turning away from our situation, our old religion and all things of the earth.
He is the author, the originator and inaugurator of our faith and it’s Perfecter.
In ourselves, our natural man we have no believing ability but when we come this charming one who is lovely, pleasant and delightful He infuses and transfuses us with Himself as our faith to be our believing element.
Amen brother. Faith is not persuading ourselves that something is so.
Faith is one living person and His name is Jesus. Mohammed, Buddha and Krishna are not faith. Only Jesus is the originator and perfecter of faith.
We succeed in running the race if we look to Jesus with undivided attention, and turn away from any other object. Jesus must be our only goal.
The more we look to Jesus, the more we will be captured by His charming beauty…
He is the Author. He is the perfector. There is no one better to look at. Lord lift our eyes to see Your face!
Amen! We look away from all the distractions, draw us today Lord Jesus!
Aaaaameeeen! Oh, what grace to run the race—Hallelujah!— We obtain by looking off to Him!
Amen Lord, draw us we will run after You to run the Christian race with endurance!
Ameeen!!!
The wonderful Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven and crowned with glory and honor (2:9), is the greatest attraction in the universe. He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Him. It is by being attracted by His charming beauty that we look away from all things other than Him. Without such a charming object, how could we look away from so many distracting things on this earth?