Focus Your Eyes On Jesus When Faced With Tragedy

Key verse: Hebrews 12:2 Pastors blog Kevin Jesmer 2/16/09

“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.”

We know a God who works all things out according to his good purpose. History does show that good does triumph over evil. So, the question remains, how can we interpret the good purposes of God in a heinous event? I liken our attempt to see the good in a senseless act to trying to see the 3-D images in a stereogram algorithm. Have you ever seen these pictures? At first, the picture appears to be a mess of blurred lines and a pile of images that don’t seem to make sense at all. They are chaotic and seem to have no meaning. It looks like a complicated mess actually. But hidden within these images are 3 –D images. I asked one lady at work if she ever saw one of these pictures. She said that she only saw it once. When I first saw these things I lied that I could see it. I said, “Oh yeah, I see it. Wow!” But really I could not. Everyone said, “You’re lying.” And I was. The technique to see the 3-D images is really an art. In order to see these images you need to first believe there is something there and then focus your eyes beyond the images themselves. They appear a little blurred and you look cross eyed, but you need to keep your eyes focus in that virtual spot and draw closer and closer to the image. Then, after many attempts, suddenly you are amaze to see a 3-D picture that you never imagined could be there. It slowly immerges out of the blurred lines and images and the chaotic patterns. If it is your first time, you are amazed. You exclaim, “I see it! I see it!” and nobody thinks you are lying. You can’t believe that it was there all the time, right under your nose. You invite others to see it, but many can not see it. And so it can be a very personal experience. Once you see it, it is like riding a bicycle, you know what to do….focus, draw near, keep focusing and voila! There it is! …even with a totally different picture. It becomes easier and easier.

And so it is with finding the meaning and the good in senseless tragedies. Events in this world seem chaotic and senseless. But we have to believe that there is some good there to be found and seek it out. Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It is basic Christian faith to believe the God works for the good of those who love him…in all things. “All things” means, “All things.” ….the good and the bad and even the terribly ugly. There is something good that does come out of tragic events. Think about the senseless evil acts perpetrated against Jesus himself. All he tried to do was preach about the kingdom of heaven, raise disciples and draw people to himself and to his kingdom through his sacrificial love. The devil hated Jesus. Evil men tried to persecute Jesus. Eventually the devil used evil men to inflict unimaginable suffering on Jesus. He was mocked flogged and crucified. How horrific! What good can be seen in this? But there was! Through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection eternal salvation was procured for all who put their faith in Jesus. There is good to be sought out and discovered in all things.

We need to make an effort to see beyond the events, beyond the chaos, and focus on Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:2 reads, “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.” We need to keep our focus on Jesus and draw closer to him, never breaking our focus. If we don’t give up, then eventually we will see something in the events that we never thought were there before. What we see is very personal. Some may not see it or understand it. You may not fully understand it yourself. But God eventually opens our hearts to understand why and find meaning and direction in the midst of chaos. Not only that, we can train ourselves to see the good in future tragedies that we all are surely going to face in our lives. These are unavoidable. There are good things that come out of tragedies. Can you see them? Believe that they are there; make an effort to seek them out by focusing on Jesus; then God will open the eyes of your heart to see that, in Christ, God’s good does indeed conquer evil.

Never Take Hope for Granted

Never Take Hope For Granted



Psalm 31:24 “Be strong and take heart, all who hope in the Lord.”



Pastor’s blog; Kevin Jesmer 2-2-09



One of the verses of the Canadian national anthem has the following words nestled within it…“Thou land of hope for all who toil! Thou True North strong and free!” The USA is also a land of hope for all who toil. I amazed about how much hope we have in our nations. It has come to light when I think about how little hope people have in other nations. In 2007 I went to Kenya and attended a Bible conference in Nairobi. There were 350 people from 11 English speaking African countries. I heard life testimonies from several students. They shared about their struggles in life and how Jesus Christ was their Savior. I was amazed about the hopeless situations some of them were in. Several shared about parents and siblings who died of disease. They talked of war and poverty. They were without hope. But when they came to saving faith in Jesus, their hearts were full of hope and with that, joy.



In Canada and the USA most of us live in hope. Even when apart from Christ, I lived my life confident that I would live to 90, go to university, own a house, get married, out live my parents and not outlive my children. I would be able to enjoy things like traveling and visiting friends and relatives freely, all my life. I even had hope that my future kids would all have these hopes fulfilled in their lives. Even when I was not a Christian, I even had some hope that I was going to go to somewhere nice and pleasing after I died. (Though I was not quite sure where.) Since coming to Jesus I still have all these hopes and more. My hopes are more clearly defined. I have hope that I will bear meaningful fruit with my life. I have hope that I can leave a mark on this generation. I have hope that I will be going to heaven to be with Jesus. I have hope for my nation to a “Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation” a Christian “light” to the world. My hopes are the same for my kids.



How can my life in America be so filled with hope and those of other nations be filled with so much despair? I thank God for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers who laid the foundation from which our society has grown. Much of their wisdom was born out of the Bible and Christian faith. I thank God, that the USA and Canada are the lands of hope for all who toil. We must never take it for granted, but enjoy it, gain strength from it and be thankful to the God who made it all possible. Let’s perpetuate it for future generations, by living for God’s glory and sharing God’s hope with others.