Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1
Our need to get rid of the sin that so easily entangles us, and slows us down from living whole as God designed, is similar to the need for runners to go with as little extra weight on as possible. It doesn’t help someone who is running a race to wear a heavy backpack, or to be pulling luggage along behind.
Our sin is like extra weight – things like worry, stress we allow to get out of hand, areas of our lives we refuse to give to God in prayer because we think He doesn’t want to deal with them, or for whatever reason we feel safer holding on to them.
You name it: could be anything we don’t want to trust Him with. And we all have something. I know I do. It’s not fun and I end up more frustrated than anything when I refuse to trust God with something. Fortunately, God pursues me until I pray about it and turn it over to Him. Thankfully, He is more patient with me than I am with myself.
No matter what we do in our lives, we need His ways of making choices. He already knows the best thing to do, and He’s the best at teaching us how to choose in the midst of what troubles us most. He is continually showing us, guiding us, so that we are dependent upon Him for everything, able to live a life free of obstacles that sin causes – those things that entangle us and prevent us from truly living, and serving, or reaching goals – or living in a way that we really want to.
I like the Phillips translation of Hebrews 12:1. Read it slowly, out loud, and think about each phrase:
12 1-3 Surrounded then as we are by these serried ranks of witnesses, let us strip off everything that hinders us, as well as the sin which dogs our feet, and let us run the race that we have to run with patience, our eyes fixed on Jesus the source and the goal of our faith. For he himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame because of the joy he knew would follow his suffering; and he is now seated at the right hand of God’s throne. Think constantly of him enduring all that sinful men could say against him and you will not lose your purpose or your courage.
Think constantly of Him and how Jesus is the source and goal of our faith. Remember that He endured many negative things said and done against Him so that we could thrive, living with courage and purpose.
Trust God that He teaches us how to think and choose wisely. It’s not that we are not dependent on Him, but in fact, it’s where we begin to depend on Him so much that the entanglements fall off and we can move on in the decisions of our daily lives – from the small things to the big. Our choices become wiser, and our trust in God’s care increases. We begin seeing that He does, in fact, have our best interest at heart: His heart. With that, there is no better investment of our trust and what we think we need to hold onto or let go of.
He shows us how to be wise so we may live in the freedom to choose appropriately, to choose life-giving options that bring us and others around us something good, something better, a blessing. Not frustration or loss. Not things that hold us back from reaching our goals, or loving others, healing, or taking a next step of faith.
In the coming days – no matter what things look like; no matter what has been, turn to God’s heart and trust Him that He is making the best decisions for you, that He is teaching you how to make best decisions for yourself. That is when we live at our best – not tangled up or held back.
