Thursday, October 11, 2012

A Stedfast Face

"And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, 
he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." 
Luke 9:51

What is the quality that causes a man, not only to start a project, but to finish a project?

What is the quality that causes a missionary, not only to go the field, but to stay on the field?

What is the quality that causes a Christian, not only to sense God's calling, but to fulfill God's calling on his life?

Stedfastness.

To be stedfast means to be firm...constant...immoveable.  Consider the lyrics of the hymn, "We Have an Anchor":

We have an anchor that keeps the soul,
Stedfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep, in the Savior's love!

When Jesus knew it was His time to be received up to Jerusalem, He "stedfastly set His face."  He pre-determined that nothing was going to stop Him, get in His way, distract Him, or cause Him to change His mind or compromise.  He was committed to fulfilling the purpose of God no matter what!

It's amazing to think of what it meant in the mind of Jesus to "go to Jerusalem."  What did that entail?  What would transpire at Jerusalem?  The answer is revealed to us in Luke 18:31-34:

"Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:  And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.  And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken."

The call of God on your life may be difficult, frightening, unpopular, or even seemingly impossible.  But we must remember that God is faithful.  

He will never leave us.
He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able.
His Word will not return void.
He will enable us to perform His will.
And in the end, we will reap if we faint not!

Have you stedfastly "set your face" to fulfill God's calling on your life?  

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 
(I Corinthians 15:58)

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