When I was in high school one of our gym class teachers was the track coach. Observing me doing some of the long distance running we had to do, he asked if I would like to go out for the track team. I was not fast enough to be a sprinter but could do well in the long-distance running. But then and now, running just to run is not my thing. I am fine doing sports that involve running. Maybe some of you are that way. My mentor was told when he went out for track that he would not make the team because he “ran too much in one place.” That’s how slow he was.
But all of us are in a spiritual race. And we are called to run this race well. Paul wrote at the end of his life, he had run and finished the race. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews gave instructions about how to run our spiritual race with endurance and perseverance. Hebrews 12.1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” NLT
The writer had just given us an amazing list and short summary of great people from the Old Testament who ran their spiritual life with great faith. He then tells us two things. First, he wrote, ‘let us strip off every weight that slows us down.” Weights are normal things of life that are not initially sinful but can eventually become distractions and even sins. Here is a short list: Money, Social Media, Church Ministries, Relationships, Routines, Work and Hobbies. All of these are good, but when we focus more on them, they can take our focus off God and slow us down in our quest for maturity in the faith.
Secondly, he wrote the sin that so easily trips us up. The word sin literally means, “to miss the mark.” We aim at pleasing God, but our spiritual arrow falls short or goes over or to the side instead of hitting the bull’s eye of obedience and submission. We all know the many things on that list. We know them from the Bible and through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Sins trip us up, entangle us and take us down.
Imagine trying to run a marathon with a heavy backpack weighing you down or ropes tangled around your feet. It’s almost impossible to make progress, right? The same is true in our spiritual journey. And so let us strip off those things and run the race with endurance as the Spirit gives us strength.
In Christ Alone
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