Looking To Jesus: Overcoming Distractions And Fixing Our Gaze On Christ Series

Looking to Jesus: Overcoming Distractions and Fixing Our Gaze on Christ

Introduction: The Problem of Distraction

We live in an age of distraction. Our attention is constantly pulled in a thousand directions — phones buzzing, headlines flashing, and responsibilities competing for our focus. Yet distraction is not merely a modern problem; it’s an ancient and a spiritual one.

It’s possible to be surrounded by spiritual activity and still lose sight of Jesus Himself.

When we lose our focus, we drift — just as the writer of Hebrews warns: “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Heb. 2:1).

This series, “Looking to Jesus,” begins with that call: to return our gaze to the One who anchors our souls.

Background of Hebrews 12:1–2:

The Book of Hebrews was written to weary believers — men and women tempted to give up under pressure, persecution, and discouragement. They had started well but were losing heart.

The author points them repeatedly to Jesus as the fulfillment of every promise — greater than angels, Moses, or the high priests.

Now, in chapter 12, after describing the “great cloud of witnesses” in chapter 11, he urges them:

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (CSB).

The image is of a runner in a stadium, surrounded by the heroes of faith, stripping off every weight that slows him down, and fixing his eyes on the goal — Christ Himself.

Søren Kierkegaard and the Power of a Single Focus:

The 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once wrote about “purity of heart” as “to will one thing.”

That’s the heart of this passage. The Christian life is not about balancing a thousand competing interests — it’s about willing one thing: Christ.

When our gaze is divided, our strength is scattered. But when our heart is united in one focus — Jesus — everything else finds its place.

As Kierkegaard observed, distraction fragments the self. Faith, by contrast, gathers all the fragments of our heart into one direction — toward the One who is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Main Idea:

True endurance comes from fixing our gaze on Jesus — not on ourselves, our circumstances, or our distractions.

Point 1 – Lay Aside Every Hindrance

“Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us…”

Not every hindrance is sin, but everything that keeps us from running well must go.

Some things weigh us down quietly: comparison, bitterness, busyness, fear of missing out.

The Christian race is not a sprint but a marathon. To run well, we must ask: What am I carrying that Christ never asked me to bear?

Reflection: What distractions or weights have been pulling your eyes away from Jesus?

Point 2 – Run with Endurance

“Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us…”

Endurance is not passive. It’s the steady, faithful movement of a heart that refuses to quit.

Every generation of believers has faced its own race — Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David — and they finished because they kept looking to the unseen.

We endure not by gritting our teeth but by renewing our focus. The more we behold Christ, the more we are transformed by His strength.

Point 3 – Looking to Jesus

“Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…”

Here is the key to everything. The Greek word aphorontes literally means “to look away from all else and toward one object.”

It’s not just glancing at Jesus; it’s fixing your eyes on Him, refusing to be distracted by the noise around you.

Jesus is both the pioneer (the One who began our faith) and the perfecter (the One who brings it to completion).

When we look to Him, we see the full arc of redemption — His Incarnation, His sinless life, His suffering and death, His resurrection power, and His ascension to the right hand of God.

Each of these realities is an anchor for our meditation. As this series unfolds, we’ll look more deeply at each:

• The Incarnate Christ — God entering our world.

• The Suffering Christ — bearing our sin.

• The Risen Christ — conquering death.

• The Ascended Christ — interceding for us even now.

The writer of Hebrews will show us Jesus in every one of these dimensions — calling us not just to believe in Him but to behold Him.

Conclusion: The Joy Set Before Him

The passage concludes:

“…For the joy that lay before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”