Consider Him

"Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Hebrews 12:3).

We are called as Jesus' followers to continually meditate on his accomplished work. We look to Jesus as more than an example. It goes farther than What Would Jesus Do? We needed his work to cleanse us from our unrighteousness, and we continue to need his work to sustain us. This verse isn't suggesting we look to Jesus to see how to pattern our life, it is telling us to look to Jesus and remember that he has paid the penalty for our sin, so now, we are free from sin.

Considering what Jesus suffered, on our behalf, has the power to encourage the heart. When we remember that Jesus accomplished his work on the cross, before we knew him, before we loved him, and before we even knew we need a Savior, we are freed to live in the confidence that his love will never fail. What he endured to bring us to him will never be undone.

No amount of hardship can separate us from his love, in fact, the author of Hebrews reminds us that hardship is to be endured as discipline. He also tells us that discipline reminds us that we are beloved children, objects of the Father's care. As we consider what Christ has suffered and what he has purchased in his death we know that, through him, we are acceptable to the Father.

As another passage so eloquently puts it, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).