What's The Pace of Your Race?

I was on my way to Dallas when I noticed a broken-down bus parked on the shoulder of Interstate 20.  The sign painted in large letters on the back of the bus caught my attention.  It proclaimed, "On the Move for the Master."   The side of the vehicle had "JOY BUS" written on it.

I thought, what a paradox.  Along the way the JOY BUS had broken down and the passengers were not on the move anywhere.  How sad!  Even sadder, however, are those who once spiritually ran and leaped with joy but now either limp along or find their ministries completely shut down by their own sin or disobedience.  Paul describes this unfortunate state in Galatians 5:7.  Some hindrance kept the Galatian church from obedience to God's truth.

Hebrews 12:1, 2 reveals two things which hinder the Christian's spiritual race: "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every ENCUMBRANCE, and the SIN which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

The first possible hindrance to our race is an encumbrance.  An encumbrance could be any object that weighs us down.  It is not necessarily a sin but could be something good that has become a hindrance because we are not giving it the proper priority in our lives.  An encumbrance could be anything that keeps Christ and His kingdom from having preeminence in our lives.  As a runner runs a race with minimal added weight, so we need to evaluate our lives.

If something encumbers us in the race, we need to set it aside.  After all, would an Olympic marathon runner undertake the race lugging a heavy backpack?  Think of the "great cloud of witnesses" mentioned by the writer of Hebrews.  Do they see us weighted down as we try to run our race or do they see us unencumbered and running well?

The second hindrance mentioned in Hebrews 12:1 is sin.  Sin entangles us and keeps us from moving forward, almost as if we were ensnared in a net.  Sin entraps us and keeps us from running well.  It is necessary to deal with any sin in our lives.  Sin slows us down or brings us to a screeching halt.  We must seek forgiveness, then start hitting on all cylinders again.  Hindrance or endurance?  Which best describes your race?  

"We are in a relay race, whether we want to be or not, and truth is either being handed on or it is being dropped."  - Edith Schaeffer