Drop the dead weight. Seriously!

I wrote a post a while back about running in a triathlon on August 1. You can read about that here. My training continues and I am getting better in each of the competition areas. I will be doing a 500m swim, 15mi bike ride, and 5k run.

While my training has been getting more intense, so has my appetite! I may be the only person who can actually gain weight while working out as much as I am.

I am ready to compete in the event today, BUT I would do so with some unneeded baggage weighing me down. On May 13, I stepped on a set of scales and I had reached 245 lbs! YIKES!

I had this very startling revelation that day. Why am I carrying extra weight that only makes my task more difficult and will hurt my performance? So I decided to do something about it! I have adjusted my caloric intake and along with training as of yesterday (June 9) I am down to 220 lbs. My goal is to hit 200 by race day.

This reminds me of an even more important spiritual principle. The writer of Hebrews said it best: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (ESV). Anther translation says the sin “that so easily entangles“.

We all face challenges in life. Some are excruciatingly difficult and we can’t do anything about them!

Others are merely distractions. They are things that don’t have to be there – but are. They are things we can control. These things are distractions. They are the “weight” this passage is talking about.

You can drop the weight.

Eliminate the distractions that take your eyes of following Jesus.

There is another more deadly enemy for the believer though. This passage also talk about sin that clings so closely and so easily entangles.

This can be deadly. These are not mere distractions. They are the things that have no business in the life of a believer. These can kill your spiritual life.

To extend the metaphor, it would be like me swimming with my hands and feet bound, or biking while carrying a baby grand piano, or running with a can of nitro glycerin! All of these are deadly!

So is sin.

It robs you of your joy. Kills your spiritual senses making you dead to hearing from the Holy Spirit. And it will destroy your testimony and effectiveness for the gospel.

Jesus said ‘the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy but I came that you might have life more abundantly‘ (paraphrase).

So drop the weight. It’s killing you.

Besides, what Jesus offers is so much better!