Looking Through the Curve

Sunday was a very good day.  In the morning I led God’s people in worship and then we got into the Word up to our elbows in Bible class.  In the afternoon I brought my Harley home from winter storage.  What a beautiful day for a first ride!  Now comes that annual period of brushing up on riding skills and sharpening my sense of situational awareness on the road.  That can only be gained by saddle time.One of the skills I’ll be paying special attention to is cornering.  Michigan roads these days are not in the best of shape.  In fact, some (many?  most?) of them pretty beat up.  All the loose stone from winter and the ever-increasing number of cracks and potholes tend to draw my attention to what’s coming up on my front wheel.  That fixation on the patch of road in front my wheel is not good.  Rather, it’s dangerous.  At road speeds I need to be looking down the road to see what’s coming so that I have time to choose a safe way to avoid anything that might be a hazard, whether its cars, cracks, or critters (dead or alive.)  

But on curves it is especially important that I keep my head up and my eyes looking through the curve.  Failure to do so can easily result in misjudging the curve and either taking it too wide (into oncoming lanes) or too short (onto the shoulder).  Either of those can be disastrous.  By keeping my head up and my eyes looking through the curve I find that the “arc” that I ride through that curve just comes more naturally and smoothly.  It’s the principle of “look there, go there” in action.

The course we ride through life also requires that we not get fixated on that patch of life right in front of us, but “look through the curve” at where we are heading.  That’s what the author of the letter to the Hebrews had in mind when he wrote, “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.”  (Hebrews 12:2)

Can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus had not looked any farther than his own immediate safety?  He never would have driven toward the cross, that’s for sure.  Instead, he looked through the arc of the curve he was on and saw where it went.  It would lead to the joy of knowing that every sin of every sinner had been atoned for.  It would lead to victory over sin, death, and Satan and to eternal glory at God’s right hand – not just for himself, but for us, too.  Because he had his eye on our salvation and on his Father’s will, he flawlessly rode the course marked out for him and by that reconciled us to God for time and for eternity.

As I ride through this life it’s really important that I keep my head up and my eyes looking at him.  It isn’t safe to get fixated on the day right in front me, or the problems that at this moment confront me, or the pleasures of this world that beckon to me from the side of the road.  If I look there too much I will go there.  That will result in (yet another) terrible spiritual wreck.  If I do that once too often I may not survive.  Instead, I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus where he sits at God’s right hand.  Looking there in faith, he will lead me safely through this dangerous and debris-filled world to eternal joy.