Have you ever watched a marathon and noticed what kind of clothing the participants wear? Some people just want to participate and may walk the entire way, not focused on winning, and might wear just their normal everyday clothing, but those who plan on winning that race will wear something different. Something light, and easy to move around in and doesn’t restrict their movement. They won’t carry their car keys, extra food or water, or their wallet in their pockets. All of those things are just extra added weight that will only slow them down and that is why they leave them behind.
Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
“Beset” means “to attack, especially from all sides” or to surround.
The life of a Christian is also like a marathon, and the entire world of people are the spectators, watching you to see how you run. Watching to see if you allow other things to slow you down and hold you back. How you live, how you speak, how you act, how you treat others, and deal with certain situations that come up in your life.
What are some things that could weigh you down? Sin is a broad definition, but temptation, the love of money, and the cares of the world can be like a ball and chain around someone’s ankle. The world is not heaven; it is a place filled with snares of sin that a Christian needs to push aside and not allow to slow them down on their quest to be holy, as Christ is holy.
1 Corinthians 9:24 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”
When we go for a walk with our dog in the summertime, she will often leave the trail to race off after squirrels and other creatures, and many times when she comes back she will be covered with a bunch of thistle burrs clinging to her fur which we will have to remove.
Those burrs are like sin that tries to stick onto you, and need to be removed. “The sin which doth so easily beset us.” Sin, as I have written before, is a virus, really. It is a disease which will try to spread to wherever it can go, attacking whoever it can attack. As Christians, we need to remain vigilant and lay aside sin if it tries to slow us down.
We need to endure temptations, and overcome them. We need to resist the devil, and he will flee from us. We need to endure to the end, so that we may be saved.
James 1:12 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
Every step in a marathon is one step closer to the finish. Each day that passes is one day closer to Christ’s return. Don’t let sin weigh you down and prevent you from crossing that finish line.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 