Eyes on the (Real) Prize

Have you ever seen any of the Rocky movies? It's the saga of a hard-working guy who decides to pursue his dream of winning as a boxer. In the first film of the series, Rocky goes into an intensive training program, finds a trainer, and takes on the local champion, winning against odds in the actual bout. Americans like
that story because it shows that you can achieve anything you want, with hard work and perseverance (meaning "persistence in spite of counter-influences, opposition or discouragement"). How do you persist, or persevere, in life? By keeping our eyes on the prize -- the ultimate victory -- rather than on the momentary setbacks and the pain or drudgery of continuing the daily grind. In our case, the prize is not just living forever or escaping punishment, but a much more precious prize: Jesus himself!

The writer of Hebrews, in the first 90% of the book, shows how Jesus is greater than angels, the law, the Sabbath, the patriarchs, the Hebrew priesthood, the tabernacle/temple, the sacrifices, the rules of worship, and anything else his readers would want to throw in there, including anything we've accomplished. The examples of faith given in chapter 11 are wonderful too, yet those all died in faith, not yet receiving the real promise.

We who believe in Jesus already have that in one sense: in John 14:20, Jesus says "When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." Since Jesus is in us, and we are 'in Christ' (hundreds of times in the New Testament) we already have a taste of the eternal banquet -- everlasting intimacy with God!

We have already been saved from our sins, saved from eternal death, and brought into real life, through Jesus. It happened to us, not because of anything we have done, but in eternity past when the triune God decided to make you and me his kids. Our future is absolutely assured! So what do we do when life sends us its inevitable setbacks? We keep our eyes on the prize -- Jesus himself! Not the rewards of living forever, the streets of gold or any of that stuff. The real prize is intimacy with Jesus, now and forever, and through him and by the Spirit's work, intimacy with the Father, creator and originator of all things.

And that's worth fighting for. And persevering.