… fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. [Hebrews 12:2-3 CEB]
I guess you have heard of the phrase “what’s on your bucket list?” – the meaning of which is, "what are things you would like to do before you leave this earth?" In other words, before you “kick the bucket.” I’m never sure how I would answer that question, but I know definitely some things that I have NO desire to do. One of these is mountain climbing. I’m not the adventuresome type. I prefer the comfort and coziness of my own bed at night, despise being in the cold, and suffer from vertigo, especially at great heights.
This past week I was reading my daily devotional by Eugene Peterson, the author of the translation of the Bible called “The Message.” It was about mountain climbing. I thought about skipping it, because I was already getting dizzy just looking at those two words.
He writes that mountain climbers rope themselves together, especially in dangerous terrain. They do so in case one of them slips and backslides, the others who are still on their feet are able to keep the backslider from falling completely. And in any group of climbers, there is a veteran climber in the lead. Peterson compares this with our journey in Christ as Christians, where Jesus Christ is the lead that we are all following. We are to “fix our eyes on Jesus” who has already begun and finished the journey we’re on.
What a great analogy for the Christian journey—we are bound together to help each other when one stumbles, fixing our eyes on Jesus who will lead us on the path. So, I guess I can say that I am already mountain climbing, in the most challenging and rewarding journey in life. I don’t even need to consider that one to be on my bucket list. I am on the climb now.