Weighing in on Obesity

Thirty-five percent of Americans are overweight enough to be labeled obese. Was the author of Hebrews writing to obese people when he told them they should put off the weight that was hindering their progress (12:1)? Hardly.

The rich young man who came to Jesus weighed in on his own progress, telling Jesus, “I have kept the law; is there anything I lack in order to have eternal life?” (Mark 10:20-21). Weighing his success by his religious (and material) gains, Jesus said those things were weighing him down.

Even as the Surgeon General is warning of an alarming level of obesity in America, more of our pastors ought to be weighing in on spiritual obesity. Many seemingly good activities, “things on earth,” may be weighing too heavily on our minds, hindering us from “setting our minds on things above” and “doing weightier things” (Col. 3:2; John 14:12).