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).
When I reached a certain age, my waistline started
expanding. And even though I lost 25 pounds last year, there didn’t seem to be
a corresponding decrease in my waistline!
I’m told that’s natural for men of my age!
Analogously, it is also natural for our spiritual ‘lines’ to
expand. Jesus compared us to new wineskins that
could stretch with maturation. A. W. Tozer said, “The widest thing in the
universe is not space, but the potential capacity of the human spirit—unlimited
expansion.”
Some of you must be thinking you have too many
hindrances to hope for such boundless progress. But
as we begin this New Year, let's not look back at what-might-have-seemed an unlucky '13. Instead, let us “forget what lies behind and reach
forward (expanding) to what lies ahead, throwing off everything
that hinders us so we can run with endurance the race marked out for us” (Phil. 3:14; Heb. 12:1, edited). In '14, expect expansion.
Kind of a rude thing to say to someone, don’t you think!? Well, that’s pretty much what I said to one of my friends last week. But it wasn’t “pounds” or “fat” I was encouraging him to lose. It was “weight” as used by the writer of Hebrews: “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1, NKJ)
The word “weight” is rooted in the word “bend,” meaning a burden that causes you to bend under its load. Notably, this charge to lose weight is followed by a challenge to “run the race set before you” [the emphasis is personal: each of us is running his/her own race!]. You definitely won’t run well if you’re weighed down. Distinguishing between a “weight” and “sin,” the Hebrews writer seems to imply that a weight is not something overtly sinful, but something that is holding you back. That said, it does become sinful when God tells you to “put it off” (Eph. 4:22). But you don't.
So what I was saying to my young friend was this: there is something in your life that is hindering your race, slowing you down, and could eventually disqualify you. Those are serious words, but I didn’t say them—Paul did!—when he urged us to run our race in such a way that we will win (1 Co. 9:24-27).
What about you? Is there some ‘weight’ you need to lose? What prevents you from losing it? Also, see blog post: Are You a Loser? http://dyingtoliveabundantlife.blogspot.com/search?q=loser
