Looking unto Jesus

I feel grateful today for the opportunity to attend church meetings and gather with other believers.

We had the chance to hear the primary program- where the children ages 3-11 sing songs and share experiences to build faith. Today was powerful as most of the songs the children sang were about Jesus- that we are trying to be like Him, that there is peace in Him, that we know He lives, that nothing is impossible for Him. 

It was powerful to hear and I just cried as their faith reaffirmed mine. 

I was especially grateful to see Ada and Tommy on the stand singing with all their hearts. I could feel that they really believe in the Savior and that their faith in Him is taking root. 

Then we attended a wonderful Sunday school lesson where we discussed Hebrews 11 and faith. I was so grateful for the comments people shared about their own experiences with faith for how my faith was reaffirmed by hearing other witnesses.

I love the verses in Hebrews 12:1-2 where Paul talks about the result- or what we can do after hearing a "cloud of witnesses." He states, "let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..."

So once we have felt our faith affirmed by the experience and witness of others, we can lay aside our sins and weaknesses and patiently run our own race- in doing what God has asked of us individually- while looking to Jesus as the foundation and the end goal of this faith. 

Looking to Jesus can happen in many ways- through prayer, scripture study or attending church. Through ordinances. Through music. Through service. Through seeing the beauty of creation. All of it can draw our minds and hearts to Him. 

And so then when in the race of our own lives, we feel heavy, we feel worn down, we feel we can't go on, we can look to Jesus. We can, as stated in verses 3-4, "consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that we may not grow weary or lose heart. In our struggle against sin (or sorrow, or pain, etc.) we have not yet resisted to the point of shedding our blood." 

We have not yet suffered as much as Jesus. We have not yet felt the level of pain that He endured. 

Or stated another way "the Son of man hath descended below them all, art thou greater than He?"

I appreciated similar thoughts that I listened to yesterday from President Eyring's recent conference address.  

In it he speaks about holiness and how one path to increase in holiness is through adversity and repentance. He shares the experience of Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and Job- how they were sorely tried even though they had been faithful. 

President Eyring states, "You might remember that Job doubted that his greater holiness, gained through greater adversity, had qualified him for greater happiness. It seemed to Job that holiness had brought misery....Yet the Lord gave Job the same correcting lesson He gave Joseph Smith."

He showed Job that He was God and reminded Job of his lowly position in relation to His creator. 

President Eyring goes on, "Then, after Job repented of calling God unfair, Job was permitted to see his trials in a higher and holier way. He had repented.

After Job repented and so became more holy, the Lord blessed him beyond all he had lost. But perhaps the greatest blessing for Job was to have increased in holiness through adversity and repentance. He was qualified to have greater happiness in the days he had yet to live." 

I feel like this is the lesson I often need to learn and relearn as I practice patience.

When I feel worn down or that my load is too heavy or when I ache from repeated bouts with sorrow I can "consider Him who endured such hostility" so that I may not "grow weary or lose heart." 

I have not yet suffered as much as Jesus.  

Hebrews 12: 5-12 finishes this line of thought. Paul reminds us saying "my child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts."  

If we are the children of God- as we so affirm- then we can endure these trials for the sake of discipline- for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 

Mercifully Paul states that God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Such discipline (or trial or heartache or pain or testing) may seem painful rather than pleasant at the time, but will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 

And that is the question I was grateful to consider today. 

Am I still willing to be trained through the testing and trials of life to become more holy? To become like Christ? 

I am so grateful for our tangible Savior. He lived here, on this earth, and we have record of Him. He experienced ALL of the things- all of it- so that He can help us and so that He can understand. 

I look to Him and am grateful for the renewal of my strength that has come again from considering Him.