I’ve been studying the Book of Hebrews lately. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The phrase “fix our eyes on Jesus” brought to mind a documentary I had seen about our mind’s capacity to process the images captured by our eyes. When our vision is focused on something, our mind has difficulty processing information outside of that focus. This was demonstrated to great comedic effect using the television audience. Two basketball teams, identified by different colored jerseys and each with their own ball were spread out on a court in no particular formation. Dark-colored jerseys were mixed with light-colored jerseys. The challenge presented to the audience was to count the number of passes between the light-colored jerseys only. Much later in the documentary, the host returned to this demonstration to point out that while we were counting the number of passes from just one team, a man in a gorilla suit walked right through the players! When the video was replayed, I couldn’t understand how I could have possibly missed the gorilla.

While we may have some fun with the idea that we missed something we should have seen, if our lives depended on counting the correct number of passes, that gorilla would have appropriately been viewed as a distraction – a costly one.

In these difficult times, many of us are coping with a number of distractions. It’s important for us to keep these troubles in appropriate perspective. We can do this by fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ. This is how we tap into the power available to us to endure hardship. This is how we run the race and share in the victory that Jesus already won. The joy set before Christ is the same joy set before us because of Christ. It is eternal communion with God the Father. Let’s keep our eyes on the Prize.