Hebrews 3:1-6

 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus

During this season we work a little more intentionally on remembering that we are called brothers and sisters of Jesus and we are part of the family of God. We are exhorted to fix our thoughts on Jesus. We are to acknowledge him as our apostle and high priest, more faithful than Moses as a servant in God’s house. We acknowledge him as faithful, as the Son over God’s house. And we are God’s house as we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory through fixing our thoughts on Jesus. 

To fix suggests focus, continuity, and reoccurrence of our thoughts on Jesus as our apostle and high priest. The Amplified Bible expands on the notion of to fix to include (thoughtfully and attentively) consider.

Fixing our thoughts on Jesus takes place in the context of our daily lives and ought to be integrated into it. Many of us find that our daily lives as (fill in your blank, e.g. child, parent, student, worker, leader) are challenging contexts in which to focus continuously and repeatedly our thoughts on Jesus and his greater than Moses, Son over God’s house work.

Rather, we flail and fail to fix our thoughts on Jesus.

• our thoughts wander off to (insert your favorite wandering]), e.g. work deadlines.
• our affections are captured not by thoughts of Jesus but by social media posts about [insert your most common “rabbit-hole”], e.g. Taylor Swift’s newest…
• our desires tend to be more drawn to (power, prestige, popularity) as first over all than to Jesus as the Son over God’s house.

When, by his convicting Spirit, we become aware that our thoughts, affections and desires have wandered away from Jesus as our Savior and Lord, let us (more and more swiftly) return to fixing our thoughts on Jesus. Let us not flog or berate ourselves more harshly than the Jesus who willingly died for our wanderings. Let us not excuse or brush over our wanderings. Let us thank him for fulfilling what we could not fulfill. Let us prepare ourselves for the celebration of his resurrection by reminding ourselves of the forgiveness he offers to us.

Prayer: Dear Father, thank you for the certainty of knowing that we are invited as dear brothers and sisters into the family of God. Help us, Holy Spirit, to fix our thoughts on Jesus every day. Forgive us when we fail to do so. Let our minds be quick and willing to be brought back to the confidence we have in our standing in Christ because of his death and resurrection on the cross. When we have moments of mental rest, help us to turn our thoughts, affections and desires to Jesus and how he would have us speak, act and live in this world individually and corporately. We ask this as your beloved children, of your Son of the house, Jesus our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Practical next step:

In some moment today, when you find yourself with a moment of wandering or of mental rest (e.g. waiting for the tram, waiting to join an online meeting, looking up from a task), consciously pick up the conversation with Jesus again and say (think/write/envision/imagine etc.) - Lord Jesus, I want to fix my thoughts on you for this moment/this minute. Please show me how you are over all things in my current situation.