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 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith …”  Hebrews 12:2

Jesus is the one out front running the race and leading the way for us. He originates our faith and defines it in the end. He also sets the standard for what our response to Him must be.

He is the author of faith. He creates it.

Faith originates with Him in its content of our faith and in our capacity to embrace it and live it. 

Our response is to look unto him.

Lent is an ideal time to look unto Jesus, to turn every distraction of the world into an attraction for our response to Him. Looking to Jesus is not a passive, passing glance of recognition, but an act of wholehearted seeking whereby we exercise stillness and movement at the same time.

Looking unto Jesus involves every dimension of who we are: intellectually, physically, relationally, spiritually, emotionally, and socially. We cannot seek Him from a position of indifference or from a heart of cynicism. It must be the primary activity of our life to look unto Jesus.

But you ask how and it is a dangerous question to answer. It is dangerous because any answer might be seen as a formula and this is not a matter of following a formula. Seeking Jesus is a state of mind and heart. It is a predisposition. It is an approach to everything we do, think, and feel. Nevertheless, there are some pointers.

We encounter the written Word of God in the scriptures. So that is a place of seeking. We commune with Him in prayer, so that is another. We are called to see Him in others, so we might look unto Him in our relationships. The same is true for opportunities to serve, songs of worship, the glories of creation, the arts, and every other thing we see, hear, or experience. The call is to look unto Him in everything.

As we look unto Him, He completes our faith.