Heb – 3:1 – Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession…

One of my fond memories as a child was considering the heavens. I think several different things caused me to turn my gaze skyward, two of them were books. First was a Bible story book mom read to me when I was a small child. The only memory I have of that book was the picture of Abraham trying to count the stars. I remember asking my mom ‘if God created the stars where did God come from?’. The second book was a book on astronomy which increased by interest in the heavens. I remember going out at night to look at the sky and find the constellations in that book. The third thing was a small telescope I received as a Christmas gift. I spent many nights in our back yard considering the stars. Here is a quote from Andrew Murray on today’s verse.

“The word consider, from the root of the Latin word for Star, originally means to contemplate the stars. It suggests the idea of the astronomer, and the quiet, patient, persevering, concentrated gaze with which he seeks to discover all that can be possibly known of the stars which the object of his study are. And Jesus, who is God, who became man, and perfected our human nature in His wonderful life of suffering and obedience, and now dwells in heaven to communicate to us its life and blessedness—oh, what reason there is for saying, Consider Jesus. Gaze upon Him, contemplate Him. For some increased knowledge of the stars what devotion, what enthusiasm, what sacrifices are oft-times witnessed. Oh, let the study and possession of the Son of God waken our devotion and our enthusiasm, that we may be able to tell men what beauty and what glory there is in Jesus.”

So the word consider in our English Bible comes from the word in Latin meaning to contemplate the stars. Paul was telling us to turn our spiritual vision to Jesus and just consider Him again. Consider His eternal nature, His humanity, His ministry, His death and resurrection, His heavenly ministry and His soon return. The more you set your gaze on Jesus the bigger He becomes in your world. This was exactly what Paul was saying to the church in Jerusalem in the letter to the Hebrews. There are some difficult times ahead, considering Jesus is a must in times like these.