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| The Race |
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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith... Hebrews 12:1-2
Track practice started this week for one of our daughters. In preparation for the season, they run, eat right, buy the perfect running shoes, and workout in the weight room. The track suit for high school is a tank and shorts.....Imagine how ridiculous it would be if at the first meet of the season, they got out on the track, down in the blocks, wearing Uggs, jeans, a winter parka and a mountain climbing backpack. I wouldn't expect a fast run and there would be stumbles along the way, I'm sure.
In essence, Christians do the same kind of things everyday in our race of faith. We have stuff weighing us down, tripping us up, and making us ineffective and frustrated. We are running the race weighed down and we are fighting the fight entangled. The writer of Hebrews tells us to "lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us".
The race and cloud of witnesses....
The Christian life has a goal, to look more and act more like Christ. At the start of this new year, how would you answer the question, "do I look more like Christ today, then I did this time last year?" Like a race, where you run and actually go from one place to another, your faith should be moving you along. This race can be run successfully, and there is a "great cloud of witnesses" that can attest to it. It is not suggested that they are like spectators in a stadium watching us, but more as though they are people that we can look to as having successfully finished the faith race...they are the heroes of the faith, spoken of in Hebrews Ch. 11. They are not witnessing us in the race, but are bearing witness that God can see us through the race. The word for witness here is the same word for martyr, and race is agon (where we get our word agony). The race isn't easy. It is set before us to run. It shouldn't be comfortable, it should call for sacrifices and putting ourselves aside. I have people in my life that I consider to be part of that cloud of witnesses and I hope that I can be that for others. The writer of Hebrews was saying, look at all of the Old Testament saints and their stories and endurance in the faith race....they are your inspiration....it can be done!
Lay aside every encumbrance....
When we have encumbrances (literally weight, mass, burdens), they slow us down. It is not implied that these weights are sinful things, the sinful things are later said to entangle. Sometimes the weights are things that are not inherently bad or evil, just things that for us, are slowing us down. It's like when Jesus commended Mary for choosing the "better part". Sometimes it's not a choice of what's good or bad, but of what is the better part. My weights may not be the same as yours.
I heard a story on the radio years ago that illustrates this perfectly:
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| "Why in the world....what's wrong with checkers?" |
Elisha Carter loved to play checkers. This was before video games or even video tapes,
so checkers was high on the list of fun things. In the evenings, Elisha and his brothers would eat, then sit down to a rousing tournament of checkers. One morning Elisha came to the breakfast table and informed his brothers that he could not play checkers anymore. They said, “Why in the world…what’s wrong with checkers?”
He replied, “You know, every night as I go to bed, I spend that time focusing my whole mind and heart on Christ. I talk to Him. I go through the things of the day and I think about the next day. It’s a very special time with Him. And I vowed years ago that I would never let anything come between me and my relationship with Jesus Christ. And last night when I went to bed all I could think about was the moves I could have made on a checkerboard.”*
And Elisha Carter never played checkers again.
(Story told by Bill Elliff, Elisha’s great grandson. Pastor Elliff says his great grandfather passed down a great legacy of faith that still resonates in the family today)
the sin which so easily entangles us...
Here's another scenario.... A close quarters combat battle where your weapon is the sword you have tucked into your clothing. It is imperative that you are able to pull it out quickly. Imagine, someone coming at you and you having to say 'hold up a sec, my swords all wrapped up in my cloak, I can't get it out". Too late, you're attacked....having the weapon, but it being rendered useless because you couldn't use it correctly.
The sin in our lives trips us up. Ultimately, the sin that entangles us is unbelief and lack of faith. In what area of your life are you refusing to believe God ? Why won't you give up yourself and allow God to work and flow through you? What are you afraid of if you totally submit and give Him authority in your life? Those are the things that entangle us and cause us to be ineffective. To fight the fight and finish the race we must trust that He who has called us to run it is faithful.
It is my prayer that we will seek to be consecrated and to be faithful in this race. I pray that God will give us wisdom to see what is weighing us down and what is rendering us useless. Then when He shows us, that we will be obedient to do something about it.
"Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin."
James 4:17
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