Let Us Lay Aside

So, how are you doing "running the race" this week? You know I am not talking about a crazy, exhausting "rat race", but the amazing race of faith that Hebrews 12 is talking about.

Hebrews 12:1-2. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith..."

One of the reasons I have a tendency to not run the race well is because I can get so weighed down....so "encumbered" as Hebrews says. There are a lot of things that weigh me down. Good works, guilt, preoccupations with stuff, other people's expectations of me, religion, church traditions, excuses, etc. All of these things slow me down. They keep me from running the race well.

What "encumbers" you? What weighs you down? Hebrews 12 says to lay it aside!! Take it off!! Let's get naked and run!!! (Not literally of course....that would not be a pretty sight if minister's wives all across Tennessee were running around naked!!)

The second thing Hebrews tells us to lay aside are entanglements!! An entanglement is anything that “hinders our progress”. The author says that sin entangles us. I have a tendency to be entangled by discouragement, criticism, bitterness, fear, and low self esteem! (Just to name a few!!)

AND I have been entangled by the sins of others!!

Can you picture with me a jewelry box full of necklaces that are all tangled up? You know what it is like to try to untangle them! Before long you are frustrated and the small chains are a nightmare to unwind. Or have you ever tried to untangle a young girl's hair that is all in knots? The tears and wails and trials that go along with untangling such messes?

That is exactly what happens when we try to untangle the messes that our sin or the sins of others have made. So, then what are we to do with these entanglements that have a tendency to trip us up? It is something we must let our loving Father untangle! He died to untangle us!! Let Him do it!!

Lay them aside! Go to God for freedom through forgiveness. Claim and believe and live by the truth in 1 John 1:9.

OK, so far we have laid down encumbrances and entanglements....feel more freedom? Running 'naked' and your feet are free from tripping....run strong sister!! Run strong!!