“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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

“Be sober (clear-headed), be vigilant (watchful); because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8

Who among us would run a race with a lead vest on? Sounds ridiculous, right? The trouble is that most of us do that all the time! You see, our lead vest is called SIN. Let’s not dress it up with romantic names; I did that for a long time. It is not “just being human”. It is not “fun things that God doesn’t like”. Sin is falling short of the mark. PERIOD. And what leads to our downfall is that we “play” with sin. We don’t realize the danger that we are in and the enemy knows it. He watches us. He knows us. He finds our weakness.

When we are running our race of faith the enemy is going to use those things to trip us up and make us fall behind. Once he gets a hold of us, we get dragged down for miles and miles without getting rid of the weight on our backs. Then we become surprised when we don’t get victory over sin. I often refer to it as a “Real Life, Weekend at Bernie’s mentality”. We think we can get away with pulling the old man, that was crucified with Christ, down off the cross and wearing it around our neck like a souvenir. Almost like some sort of homage to our life of sin.

When we continue in our old sins we are sabotaging our own race. I have seen this problem first hand and can attest that our biggest problem is that we do not lay aside those things in order to run light. I could never gain victory because I was not laying aside EVERY weight. We should all want to run the race to win like Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain [it].” We shouldn’t be like those people who run a mile in the Boston Marathon just to get the t-shirt saying that they ran. That is what most people do with their sin. They would rather hold onto it and be mediocre. They are not willing to do the difficult, often times painful, thing of cutting off the figurative eye or hand that is causing them to sin. Thankfully, God’s grace is there to help us with the “radical amputation” that is required to gain victory. His Spirit helps us to locate the problem and remove it completely. Once we have done that we need to keep a watchful eye on those things that we have put aside. Not so that we can remember them fondly, but so that we are aware of what we have been rescued from.

The Israelites always had selective memory when it came to Egypt. They only remembered the pleasure and never the bondage that came with it. Lord Jesus, help us to lay aside the sin in our lives which only leads to bondage but also help us to never forget the sting of the master’s whip.

“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:41

“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” – Matthew 5:29