Run...With Endurance! (Part I)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, 

and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

—Heb. 12:1

Commentators see the “weight” referred to in this passage as the bodily weight (literally “bulk” or “mass”) that would obviously be a liability for the athlete running a race or participating in almost any contest, something that the athlete would need to eliminate in order to be successful.

Most of my life, I have struggled with doing too much.  I have had to be reminded frequently, I am a human being not a human doing.  I need to put margin in my life that allows me to be with Jesus and not always feel as though I need to be doing something.

Some time ago, God apparently felt He needed to bring this point home to me.  I found myself once again in an all too familiar place of being stressed by all I had to do.  It was about that time, I was in the midst of developing a ministry while also trying to work full-time at my day job.

I knew God was telling me to start cutting some things out of my life, so I began to tweak here and tweak there, but God had something more in mind.  I needed to do more than remove a few dead branches (John 15).  I needed to have some branches pruned that were bearing fruit in order that I could be even more fruitful.  It wasn’t always an easy thing to do.  In fact, it was quite challenging.

All of us have a race that we are to run, a course that we are to follow; and all of us carry excess weight or baggage that impedes our progress of growing and living out the purpose God has for us.  Anything that is a part of your life that burdens you in some way is something that needs to be let go.

Maybe it has to do with a personal habit that you know you need to give up or change in some way.  Maybe it is something that isn’t necessarily a major sin, but it is something you know that God has been asking you to let go of for quite some time.  Maybe you are carrying around a load of guilt and regrets for things you have done in the past.  Maybe it is worry or fear that is weighing you down and keeping you from the life that God wants to give you.

The reference here to the “sin which clings so closely,” in the Greek has to do with that which can so easily constrict or squeeze us (think python here), because it is so much a part of our lives, e.g., our work-settings, our friendships, or our personal circumstances.  At times, we may have trouble even realizing that it has this effect on us.  But, we feel it.

The root of the word in the Greek for sin is often translated “distress.”  This type of sin has the potential to create further stress in our lives and restrain us, keeping us from being able to run at all.

In order to run with perseverance the race marked out for us we need to lay aside the things that are weighing us down, remove the sins or remove ourselves from the situations, relationships, or circumstances that have the potential to cause us such distress as to, literally, choke the life out of us.

Paul said, “I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (I Cor. 9:27).”  Check out the YouTube video, “The Chisel,” by the Skit Guys for a rather humorous and yet poignant illustration of what Paul is describing.

What is needed in our lives is discernment.  A colleague of mine from my Bible college days, once preached a sermon where he spoke of good, better, and best.  There are many good things we could be doing with our time, our energies, and our resources.  But, our discernment helps us determine what is best.  What is best is that which God has given us to do and nothing more.

The things I had to let go were not things in my life that were wrong or sinful.  They were good things.  But, God had something else in mind, something better, something that was the best use of my time, energy, and resources.

What weight do you need to lay aside?  What changes do you need to make in your life so that the stress isn’t keeping you from being able to run your race?