Why is it important for believers to study and meditate upon Christ?

John Latham explains in this video that it is important for every believer to study the Son of God. It is important to meditate on these things. We are told to “fix our eyes upon Jesus” and to “set our minds on things above where Christ is.”  

Christ is so worthy of our attention. Nothing can compare to the glory of Christ. There are so many worthless things in this life. We will find that when we meditate on the Son of God, we are strengthened, encouraged, and sanctified. The things of this earth will fade away when we behold the Son of God. 

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) - "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto 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."

That's important for every believer to study the Son of God, to meditate upon Him, both His pre-incarnate glory and power and working, His relationship to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, His work at creation, and then His incarnation, His coming, His ministry, His miracles, His life, His love, His gospel, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. It's important for us to meditate on these things, number one, because we're commanded to. Over and over again in the Scriptures, we are told to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We're told in Colossians to set our mind on things above where Christ is, where he is seated at the right hand of the Father. So we ought to meditate on these things because God has said it.

As the Reformers said, that settles it. We are commanded to do so, and yet beyond that, As in all of God's commands, He commands it because it's for our good. Again, going back to Hebrews, we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despised against shame, so that we don't grow weary and lose hope. We fix our eyes upon Jesus so that we don't grow weary in this life. This life is hard.

And we have trials and we fall into sin and we have heartache and difficulty and in the church and our families and our own lives We struggle and we become weary and we want to quit, we want to give up, we don't want to keep doing the good works of God. We don't want to continue to serve in the church, we don't want to continue to walk in holiness because it's hard, because it's labor, because life is difficult, because it doesn't always work out. And to keep from getting weary, we're to fix our eyes upon Jesus, our mediator, our great high priest, our loving Savior, our Redeemer, the Son of God, the glorious Christ, the Messiah, to fix our eyes upon Him. And in doing so, that keeps us from being weary and giving up, throwing in the towel and saying, well, it's not worth it. Other reason I would say that it's important for us to do that is because He is worthy of it.

He is worthy. In all the worthless things that we fix our eyes on, all of the cheap things, the imitation things, the sinful things that we fix our eyes, our attention, our heart, our passions on, none of them can compare to the glory of Christ. He is infinitely glorious and worthy. In Revelation 5 it speaks of the worthiness of the Lamb of God that was slain, to receive all power and glory and honor, riches and wealth and wisdom. He is worthy of all of that.

He is worthy of our seeing Him and meditating upon Him, of thinking about Him as tough as it is, in our laziness, in our finite minds to think upon these deep things of the glory of the Son of God. He is worthy of that kind of time and attention, of that kind of labor and struggle and difficulty that it is to fix our eyes and minds upon Him when there are so many temptations, so many easier things, so many light things, so many worthless things, so many tempting things, that He is worthy of our taking the time to do that. And I think we'll find that when we do that, when we meditate upon the Son of God in all of His glory, His pre-incarnate glory, His incarnational work and ministry, His resurrection ascension, His coming in all power and glory, that we will find that we are strengthened and encouraged, that we are sanctified, that we have a new zeal for holiness, a new longing to be to be with Him and near Him, that we will find these things of earth, as the hymn says, will fade away and fade to the background as we behold and meditate upon the glory of the Son of God.