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)
Years ago, I had something in my life that was hindering me. I don't recall what it was but at the time it seemed terribly important. What I remember is that I went to God with it in clenched fists. I told Him that I could not let it go, but that if He wanted me to not have it, He was welcome to come pry my fingers from it and take it. I took it to Him daily. On some days, I could almost loosen the grip with one hand. On other days, it was the other hand. Sometimes, it was not at all. Eventually, I found that I could take that thing to Him with open hands.
The writer of the Letter
to the Hebrews challenges us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin
that so easily entangles. This is much the same idea as releasing. So is
repentance. Some people see repentance as feeling bad about some sin and that can
certainly be part of it. But the word repentance comes from Latin terms meaning
"think again." Repentance is changing your thinking about something,
turning away from it and toward God. It may involve weeping. I have also had
times of repentance in which I rejoiced, feeling freed from something I might
not have even realized was harming me until then. There is another word for
releasing to consider: forgiveness. We usually think of forgiveness in terms of
freeing the person forgiven from responsibility, accountability, penalties or
debts. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. The thing forgiveness always
does is release the one who forgives.
Throwing off what
hinders and entangles, releasing, repenting, forgiving all free us to run the
race set before us. It's hard to run while
dragging a wagon full of people. It's difficult to win a race carrying twice
your weight in burdens of guilt. You don't get far chained to the wall or doing
the prisoner's shuffle with chains of sin clamped around your ankles. You can't move forward if your heart stays
behind. That was the problem Lot's wife faced. She could not leave Sodom, so
she shared in its fate. On the
other hand, Sarah, Rahab and her
daughter-in-law Ruth both turned their backs on the sins of their families,
their home towns, their cultures, and their religions and by doing so became
part of the lineage of Jesus. [1] Sarah and Rahab also won a place in the Hall
of Faith (Hebrews 11) and Ruth's story is a whole book of the Bible.
That is how important
releasing, throwing off, repenting, and forgiving is. It is the difference
between victory and defeat. It is a difference of life and death.
[1]
Matthew 1:1-5. Sarah was the wife of Abraham. Ruth's other mother-in-law was
Naomi. "Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of
Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse," (Matthew 1:5)
Imagine those family dinners and their "Remember when...?s"
[1]
Matthew 1:1-5. Sarah was the wife of Abraham. Ruth's other mother-in-law was
Naomi. "Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of
Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse," (Matthew 1:5)
Imagine those family dinners and their "Remember when...?s"
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