Hebrews 12:1b tells us to "...lay aside every obstacle, and the sin that so easily entangles us, so we can RUN the race set before us." Let me be the first to admit that I have been jogging through my spiritual life, barely breaking a sweat, so when I came upon this passage again the gravity of the message caught me off guard. Here are a few of my thoughts.
Obstacles and sin are like eating junk food before a marathon, the calories are useless and only serve to slow us down and trip us up. The fast food I'm thinking of could be anything from curling up in front of the TV to binge watch our favorite mini series (night after night) or randomly surfing the internet looking for what we can order on Amazon and when that gets boring spending long wasted hours checking our social media. The list goes on and on. I know these seemingly innocent pursuits are not bad in themselves as long as we monitor our usage but if these little distractions are left unchecked they will pull us away from studying the word of God and keep us from focusing on the finish line. Spiritual nourishment is necessary so we don't wake up one day to find ourselves watching the race instead of participating in it.
The next challenge to staying in the race are secret sins. These tasty indulgences are always stuffed away in our duffel bags. Christians are not immune to temptation and we all mess up...a lot. I'm sure you are aware of your own transgressions, as I am of mine, so there is no need to list the many possibilities that can entangle us. Fortunately, God expects our obedience not a perfect track record. Jesus is always interceding for us and helping us to overcome our weaknesses. Prayer and faith are our energy source.
So what's my point and why should we care? The book of Hebrews was written to believers who were getting tired of fighting. Like us they faced trials, persecution and opposition from people who opposed the Gospel message. It was easier to just go with the flow and drop out of the race. They lost their victory mentality and began to retreat. Complacency leads to compromise and over time we become fat, flabby and lazy spiritually, easy prey for the enemy.
Christianity was never meant to be a spectator sport. Instead of dropping out of the race we need to strip down, start running-and never quit! "You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 ( Message)
Decide what holds you back and let it go. God is calling you to greatness.
THE WAY YOU RUN YOUR RACE IS YOUR DEFINING MOMENT.
Resources: Running with the witness
John Piper
