It’s easy to allow an event or circumstance in our lives to define us. Perhaps it’s a broken marriage and lingering family troubles. Maybe it’s the loss of a job that you loved and spent years doing. It might be a setback in your health that has put your plans on hold. We wrongly think, “There’s nothing I can do to ever get out of this or make things better.” Sometimes we can get so overwhelmed by our circumstances that we’re tempted to give up and lose hope. Because we don’t see where we’re going or how things can change, we have a tendency to just stop and settle right where we are.
What you have to realize is that where you are right now is not your final destination. If you’re going to see the fullness of God’s promises in your life, you have to develop the ability to see beyond where you are right now. God has amazing things in store for you, but your eyes have to be lifted up to see Him and what He is doing.
This is what Jesus had to do. When He was in great agony and pain on the cross, He refused to allow this one event to define His life and keep Him there. The Scripture says, “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). He lifted His eyes and saw the joy that was on the other side of the cross so that He could endure where He was and get to where He was going. He looked forward to the finished product of the joy of conquering death for us and sitting down at the Father’s right hand. He said, “I’m not staying on the cross or in the grave. This is not my destiny. I’m moving forward. God is going to do great things through this.” There was a purpose for the cross and the grave, but Jesus didn’t get stuck there.
Don’t let something that happened in the past define your life. Don’t get stuck in your circumstances, but realize that beyond what you see are greater heights, greater victories, greater strength, and greater anointing. The only way you’re going to find the greater things and get to the place God wants you to be is to look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. All that you will ever need is found in Him—all the provision, the healing, the protection, the blessings. Just look up and let the King of glory come in and do great and mighty things!