Faith
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1
Somewhere along the line of approaching 50 I began buying clothes that were loose fitting. I exchanged by buttons and belt loops for elastic and loose shirts. My focus went from style to comfort, and I even remember my excitement when I found an adorable sweater in the maternity section of Target! (This was just this past fall.) You can only imagine my shock to realize that I had some weight to lose. I never realized the slow weight gain because my comfort was my focus, not my discipline.
If not careful, we can do the same thing in our spiritual lives. We buy into society’s complacency of selfishness, and we shop in the maternity shop of excess. We dress ourselves in fear and wear it as a shroud of doom. Slowly, we allow less than faithful attitudes to gain weight in our spirit and weigh us down. The Greek scholar Rick Renner says the phrase throw off means to ‘lay something down and to push it far away and beyond reach. It implies a deliberate decision to make a permanent change of attitude or behavior.’ The Hebrew translation for everything that hinders is simple – weight, the heavy things of life that weigh us down. The only way to shed spiritual pounds is to exchange our burdens for God's wardrobe, dressing ourselves in His power, strength and attitudes. Once we put on the wardrobe of Christ, we are more equipped to accomplish His will for our lives. We must make intentional efforts to push our self-defeating thoughts and attitudes far away and beyond reach.
Where is your spiritual weight gain? Have you become comfortable in your attitudes to where you cannot even feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit? Have you become weighted down with despair over a situation? God has laid out a race before each of us which requires us to be in great spiritual condition to run that race. He will help you shed the spiritual pounds that are presently hindering you if you will trust Him in the process.
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