Devo: "Looking through the Adversity!"

"Looking through the Adversity!"

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

      When I was younger, I loved playing American football. I played quarterback. For me in sports, there was nothing like dropping back to pass and looking for an open receiver while 4 to 7 guys a lot bigger and stronger than me were coming at me to violently put me on the ground. One of the things I had to do was to look through the guys coming at me and intensely focus on the receiver I was throwing to. The second I became worried about the guys trying to lay me out, is the second I became ineffective as a quarterback.

    Living life with joy in the midst of adversities is like playing quarterback. We have to look through the adversity and focus on the joy set before us. When Jesus suffered by being beaten and hung on a cross, He looked through the pain and shame of the cross and focused on the joy of being raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of His Heavenly Father (Hebrews 12:2).

      Looking through the adversity, to the reward and blessing of our Heavenly Father is how we enter and receive the joy of the Lord. The second we begin focusing on the pain and injustice of our adversity is the second we lose our joy.

     Jesus told us to look through the pain of persecutions and insults for the reward laid up for us (Matthew 5:11–12). The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us we can joyfully endure the seizure of our property by looking through the disappointment towards the sure promise of an eternal reward and blessing (Hebrews 10:34). We can endure suffering for the name of Jesus by looking to the joy of ruling and reigning with Him. We can joyfully endure trials and tribulations by looking toward the blessings that will soon be ours (Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 1:6-7). The ultimate adversity we face in this world is death. I heard and watched my mom boldly endure and look through the pain of death toward the joy of being with her loving Savior, whom she loved (Philippians 1:21-24). Looking through the adversities of this world to the glorious workings and blessings of our Heavenly Father releases the joy of the Holy Spirit into our lives.