Consider Jesus

"For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." Hebrews 12:3

Consider Him - Study His life. Paul, the author of Hebrews, tells us in verse 2 to "look to Jesus". This is not the same as "look at". To 'look to' means to expect Him to do something for one who is helpless. It's like a cry for help! There's an expectancy, a hope of being helped. Our helplessness is His strength.

Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself - the word Endure is used at least three times in the passage. The word is translated from the original Greek to mean "to remain, stay behind, have fortitude, bear trials, persevere, take patiently." The New International Version renders the word hostility as oppression. Jesus pressed on, persevered, going so far as to make Himself the sacrifice for sin and sinners, even though He could have turned His back on our situation and walked away.

Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer of the last century named the expedition ship The Endurance, borrowing the name from his family motto: By endurance we conquer. You see, Shackleton and 26 others planned to cross the Antarctic on foot - something that had not been done before. But his ship became ice-bound at the start of the winter. The party abandoned the ship, which later was crushed by the ice and sank, and hauled the lifeboats across the ice to get to open water. By enduring the bitter Antarctic winter in difficult circumstances, Shackleton saved himself and his men. Had he given up, they all would have perished. Jesus demonstrated to the universe that by "staying behind", not giving up on His mission, He conquered the enemy on our behalf.

Lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls - Weariness and discouragement come to all of us. We are admonished to fight against these two forces by looking at the life of Jesus. Because He never gave up on us, we are encouraged to endure also.

To encourage us further, in verse 4 the writer states that, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." Jesus did. Today, consider Him!