Look Up!

Laura Booz: Hi there. You’re listening to Expect Something Beautiful with Laura Booz. When I was on the cross country team in high school, we trained hard. We ran hills, meaning: we ran up a hill, turned around, ran down that hill, turned around and ran back up that hill for an hour. We lifted weights, trained cardio, ran sprints, ran distances three times the distance of the race, stretched, did push-ups, did burpees, did all kinds of drills that would help us have just the right technique when we were running. 

But the advice we heard from our coach most often had nothing to do with our feet, our legs, our hearts, or our arms. Surprisingly, it had to do with our eyes. It consisted of two words that he would yell when we needed to hear them most. 

Sure enough, we’d be in the middle of a three-mile race, about to face the steepest hill on the course, or maybe it would be in the middle of a long stretch of running in the blazing sun, or on a particularly rocky trail in the middle of the woods, or sprinting to the finish line. Our coach would somehow be on the sideline shouting those two words. I can hear him to this day. He’d yell, “Look up!” 

Every time those words took me by surprise, because without realizing it, I had already tucked my chin and was looking down at the ground under my feet. But my coach would yell, “Look up!” And when I took his advice, I could anticipate what was coming, so I wouldn’t trip or fall down. 

I could see past my current obstacle to maybe a downhill or a stretch of running that would refresh my body. I could see the runner in front of me and try to catch up with her, keep pace with her. And there were always those wonderful moments when I looked up and saw the finish line. So, I would run as hard as I could until I crossed it. 

A runner’s eyes are just as important as her arms, her legs, her heart. That’s important for us to know because you and I are on a cross country team of sorts. We are running in the race of a lifetime, a race that is set before us by God Himself. 

When you open your Bible to Hebrews 12, you’ll read about this race and the intense training it requires. It’s like this: God is our coach, and He wants us to run our best. This means He’s going to be training us, disciplining us. 

In Hebrews 12:7 you’ll read, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

In verse 11, we read,  “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” 

The writer of Hebrews 12 says that this discipline, this training, will help to make us strong. In verses 12–13 he writes, “. . . lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”

But when you’re reading through this chapter, don’t miss the fact that first and foremost we need to attend to our eyes. You can see if for yourself in the first two verses of Hebrews 12. The coach opens up with these words, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do you hear it? Do you hear the cheer? Look up! And when you do, you’ll notice that Jesus finished His race by looking up. He looked up at the joy set before Him, and we finish our race by looking up at the joy set before us, by looking to Jesus. 

Now, keep in mind that when you look up at Jesus, you will see a mountain in front of you. We run hills too, as Christians. But it’s a huge, glorious mountain, taller than Mt. Everest. It’s a mountain that you and I could never approach or run alone. But with Jesus we will scale this mountain at quite a pace. 

Here’s how Hebrews 12 describes it: 

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (vv. 22–24)

What a glorious mountain. One we will run up and never turn around and run back down. Let this vision call to you, and encourage you, to remind you why you are running. The race ends uphill but what a glorious uphill. What a glorious mountain, one we will scale and never turn around and run back down. This is our finish line, and we will be home. 

In your race of faith, are looking at the ground beneath your feet? As you pursue good over evil, are you just trudging along without any real hope? As you live for God’s glory over living for man’s glory, are you starting to feel weighed down? Are you weary? You’re not alone. We all feel discouraged from time to time. 

Perhaps Hebrews 12 is in our Bibles for this very reason: that we would cheer one another on in our race of faith; to give one another a dose of truth that would fill our lungs with a fresh breath of air and energize us to keep going.

Today, I’m here joining with the great cloud of witnesses along the sidelines of your life, shouting, “Look up!” Look up at your Savior who loves, at your Savior who has marked your race out for you and will take such good care of you along the way. There is no twist or turn, no hill or valley, that He has not ordained for you. Nor is there a hill or a valley that He’s not already run for you. He started your race, and He will see to it that you will finish, because He’ll be with you before and behind and all around you, every step of the way. 

You just lift your eyes, and keep running toward Him. We have a race set before us, Jesus leads the way. Look up; let’s go!

Expect Something Beautiful is part of the Revive Our Hearts podcast family. And when you check out our other podcasts, I think you will discover several coaches who will encourage you to look up and stay focused on the Lord. 

Those other podcasts include The Deep Well with Erin Davis, she provides Bible teaching on fascinating topics. In fact, you’ll hear me interacting with Erin on some of those seasons. And Grounded will give you hope and perspective once a week. And then there’s the flagship, Revive Our Hearts. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been a coach to all of us, encouraging us to keep our eyes on Jesus. 

You can learn more about the whole podcast family by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com. And of course, you and I are running side by side, and I want to cheer you on. I hope to do that through my personal blog, LauraBooz.com. 

Expect Something Beautiful is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.