Everything That Hinders

           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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 11:1-3)
 

          Get ready! Get set! Go!
          We all have a race marked out for us. Mine is not yours. Mine has before me three different tracks. One goes off in a very different direction than the other two. It’s marked “No Writers.” The other two are sort of close together, heading into the mountains. One is marked “Traditional” and the other “Self-Published.” The “No Writers” path comes up now and again, but I’ve already decided not to take it. Not yet at least. The other two? I think they cross each other a number of times, or maybe share the same course for some distance. They’re not mutually exclusive. I’m praying and pondering those. There may be other courses, and God has been good about making sure I end up on the right one.
          No, the path is marked out. That’s not the issue. There seem to be three issues that are more important in our running our race. First, we need to throw off everything that hinders us. The second is the sin that easily entangles us. The third is that this is an ultra-marathon, not a ten foot sprint. It takes endurance.
           So what hinders us? A few thoughts come to mind: our economic status, our social status, other peoples’ judgments of us…  These are all things that are external. Yes, they influence the race, like the terrain that we must run. One person may have steep hills of social unacceptance, but chances are that they were running those hills before the race began. Those things are all part of the course.      
          The things that hinder us aren’t externals. They aren’t things we can’t change (like most of the things involved in identity politics.) It would be easy to blame my so-called privileged background that makes me so frail. It would be easy to blame all sorts of things. But those aren’t really what hinders. 
          The things that hinder are internal.

Cowardice (not fear, but our holding on to fear)

Hatred

Laziness

Faithlessness

Learned Fragility

Bitterness (Not anger, but anger that we hold on to)

Unforgiveness

Jealousy & Envy

Rebelliousness

Selfishness

           What of the sin that so easily entangles? First off, sin is whatever separates us from God, others, and ourselves, but I think it goes a little beyond that. Sin is that which separates us from God and His will for us, from others, and from ourselves. That means that anything that interferes with our running the race set before us. Anything, therefore, that we do as a result of those hinderances. How about these?

Bigotry

Theft (even the legal kind)

Cheating

Controlling (AKA Enslavement)

Blaming

Lying

Rebellion

Hiding

“Thumb-sucking” (doing something that provides no sustenance or poor sustenance instead of something that gives us the strength to run the race.):

           I’m sure there are more. You probably have your list of favorites as I do mine. These are all behaviors that come out of the hinderances listed above. Prayerfully consider both lists – add to them if necessary. Make a list of your hinderances and entangling sins, and your better options, whatever they might be – and keep it nearby, so when you catch yourself blaming or being jealous, you have a plan for casting them off and disentangling. Recognizing is half the battle.