Resolution 2 -Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus

The Book of Hebrews offers us a second New Year Resolution:  Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus.

Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

I don’t know about you, but I think it really shouldn’t be as hard as it is.  Why is it so hard to do what ought to be automatic?  After all, He’s God.

Oh, but first thing in the morning, the newspaper headlines, the social media replies and likes, the blog subscriptions, the endless email promotions for products you once wanted or companies from whom you made purchases, all of them scream “Look at me!  Fix your thoughts on me!  Fix your thoughts on politics, on fixing this country!  Fix your thoughts on Covid and things still on that Christmas wish list!  Fix your thoughts on your credit card statement post-holiday.  Fix your thoughts on how popular your post was on Instagram versus Facebook…”

Fix your thoughts on anything but Jesus.  Ouch.

One of my New Year resolutions has been to shut off the noise.  To prioritize Jesus.  To prioritize prayer.  To prioritize worship. 

You’d think I’d have figured that out by now.  But just like weight loss goals and healthy lifestyles and exercise and better budgeting, discipline goes a long way.  The writer to the Hebrews (whose identity is a mystery and suggests to me that the author would not have been accepted had his/her identity been known) instead is obliged to remind all of us.  Again.  Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

Questions for today:

How is Jesus our sure hope, described in Hebrews 6:19 “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure”?

The Bible also tells us (in all 3 synoptic gospels BTW: Matthew, Mark, and Luke) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Luke 21:33).  Why is fixing our eyes on the immovable, unchangeable, immortal, and steadfast a far better guide for daily living than watching the winds of change rush by with transient importance?

It’s not too late to make “fixing your eyes on Jesus” your resolution too, or to reclaim it for today.