My family moved this week. We – along with the help of some seriously awesome friends – packed up everything we owned and moved…down the street. It’s not exactly a stone’s throw, but definitely a long par 4. For a solid 12 hours, we loaded stuff into a van and a trailer, drove down the street, and unloaded that very same stuff.
And in the midst of the move, I can’t count the number of times I was ready to quit and the number of things that I wish I didn’t have. The burden of moving – the burden of ownership – weighs heavy. It stresses. I have to think about it. It exhausts. It costs me something to own this. It hurts your back. (Seriously, who knows of a good chiropractor?)
And it was only in retrospect that a verse took on new meaning to me.
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. Hebrews 12:1
The author of Hebrews writes that we have a course laid out before us, and that this is an endurance race. (Point of fact, no one will ever confuse me for an endurance runner). But in order to run with endurance, we must rid ourselves of any and all unneeded weight. It hinders your speed. It hinders your joints. And it makes the run less enjoyable to begin with.
And so the author tells us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely…” So many times in my life, I’ve felt weighed down spiritually – like I just can’t do it. But then I look, and I see what I’ve been carrying around. So many times, I’ve been dragging excess baggage down the track. So many times, I’ve been carrying unconfessed, unrepented of sin.
I wonder if you would ever say the same? Can we let it go?
And I’m serious about that chiropractor…
