Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more