LAY IT ASIDE!

" . . . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us . . ." (Hebrews 12:1b)

THE "RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US" is possibly long, and leads through treacherous terrain. It requires agility of soul, and does not allow for excess baggage. Every believer will confront moral and spiritual "weights" that make it difficult to live by faith. Often, these "weights" are not unlawful of themselves. It is not so much that they contradict the Word of the King. Rather, they tend to detract from the goal, tempting the individual to make this world primary. These "weights" are personal matters, and thus are not precisely defined. Their identity requires the assessment of the hearer more than the writer.

THE NATURE OF THE FAITH-LIFE, or running the race set before us, demands that we run with as few hindrances as possible. A cross country runner who carries a backpack laden with rocks, in the key race, is not wise, to say the least. A fighter who places a hundred-pound weight on one of his hands should not expect to win the contest. Yet, I have witnessed people attempting to navigate from earth to glory with unnecessary weights and encumbrances. It was not long until they dropped out of the race from spiritual fatigue. That fatigue was owing more to the conflicting weights that they carried than the length or hardship of the race itself. Some will counter that runners do, in fact, practice with weights on their ankles. This is true. But none of them run for the prize with those weights – and you are running to "obtain" the prize (1 Cor 9:26), which is eternal life.

THE WAY LEADING TO LIFE is "strait (difficult) and narrow" (Matt 7:14). It will not allow for a lot of excess baggage. For one rich young ruler, his possessions proved too personally significant for him to follow Jesus (Matt 19:16-22). For another, wrapping everything up at home stood between him and discipleship (Luke 9:61-62). For Judas, thirty pieces of silver proved too large a weight to allow entrance into life (Matt 26:15-16). For Esau, a desire for food was a "weight" that disqualified him for the inheritance (Heb 12:16). Whatever makes it more difficult to run the race is a "weight." If it impedes your progress, it is a "weight." Things requiring attention and commitment that belong to God alone are "weights." Such things deplete your spiritual energy, but offer no corresponding spiritual value or resources.

AND WHAT ARE WE TO DO with such "weights?" We are to "lay aside every weight" (KJV, RSV, NASB). The NIV reads "throw off everything that hinders." The word translated "lay aside" or "throw off" means to be done with; take off. It is a strong one, and is not to be seen as a casual activity. In this form, it is used three other times in the Apostolic writings. (1) "Therefore, putting away lying . . . " (Eph 4:25). (2) "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness . . . " (James 1:21). (3) "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking" (1 Pet 2:1). The language suggests deliberation and firm resolve. This is not something done rashly or in haste. Neither, indeed, can it be done casually and with disinterest. Our perception of the nature of this race, together with the recollection of the saints who have gone before us, will compel us to discard what hinders us.

THIS IS AN INTENSELY personal thing. It is not something we are to apply to our brethren, but an activity in which we ourselves are to regularly engage. Our hearts are to be tender enough, and our vision clear enough to assess what is making it difficult for us to run the race that is set before us. Our decision is to be based upon spiritual understanding. We might suppose working for a living impedes our progress. Then, upon quitting our job, we find we have even greater hindrances. Live close enough to the Lord to be able to make this assessment, and receive strength to thrust impeding weights from you. Your effort to cast aside such things will be undergirded by Divine power!AND THE SINWe are also to "lay aside . . . the sin which doth so easily beset us,: or "easily ensnares" )NKJV), or "clings so closely" (RSV), or "so easily entangles" (NIV). Each of us have areas of especial vulnerability – areas where Satan can more easily make inroads into our thinking.

THE LANGUAGE OF THIS VERSE is arresting. It is the sin itself that is to be thrown off, aggressively cast away from us. We are not to allow it expression, suffocating it with the love of the truth and the shield of faith.

THE CORRUPT FOUNTAIN of nature must not be allowed to boil. It must be removed from the fire of preference, and smothered by an affection set on things above, and not on things on the earth (Col 3:1-3). This is HOW we put off the "sin that so easily besets us." As long as we allow our affection to be prostituted by the things of this world, sin will cling to us like an impeding weight, forbidding us to make progress to glory. Throw it off by saying "‘No' to ungodliness and worldly passions" (Tit 2:12, NIV). Grace will "teach" you to do this by giving you insight into "so great salvation" (Heb 2:3).

HOW MAN I HAVE SEEN who started the "race" with a burst of energy. They appeared to grasp great Kingdom truth rapidly, and soon put a distance between themselves and those who chose spiritual mediocrity. But, alas, after a time, they were "beset" in their race. Soon, "the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19, NKJV). It all happened so "easily," because they did not "cast off" the weight and sin which so easily beset them. Take the admonition seriously!

– Given O. Blakely