Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1 Amplified Bible
Once again it was time for my Yo, God class. Picking up the weights I needed I also found the scripture I wanted to use too. It was the one in Hebrews 12 about throwing off the extra weight that easily entangles us.
As I reached for my weights to lift for my exercise class throwing off extra weight sounded good. "Oh bother Karen" I thought to myself, 'you haven't even got started and you want to throw off the extra weight."
That thought interestingly enough led to another thought. It was obvious my Yo, God class was going to be a success today. My second meditation was the fact that we often find it easy to ditch extra weight physically in what we are holding on to but not spiritually.
As I went through class I began to try and figure out what extra weight I was holding on to. For some people it's anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, addiction to alcohol or drugs, or other things. We seem to clamp on to these things for all we are worth and refuse to let go long enough to deal with them.
That is not the way the Bible tells us to handle these things. It says that since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses we need to do our part. It says we need to, strip off and throw aside every encumbrance or unnecessary weight. It also tells us to toss aside that sin that we get so easily entangled with.
Every unnecessary weight, every, not just some but every. We are to toss it aside so quickly it doesn't have a chance to slow us down. With that weight goes the sin that so easily entangles us. The anger that gets us in trouble. The drinking that causes us to hurt others. The bitterness that holds us back and the list goes on.
With our load lightened we are free to run that race God has set before us. Not the race we choose to run. The race to sin, to living for ourselves not caring about the course God wants us on but the race to be a part of the great cloud of witnesses for Jesus. The place where the swift are found in those un-encumbered by the world's extra weight.
There's no time to wait. Life is too short and eternity long to weigh ourselves down unnecessarily. Go for the swift. Go for the un-encumbered. Go for Jesus.
Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
