“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Heb. 12:1.
According to our text, weights are not necessarily satanic, many times those weights are simple distractions that create enormous drag. One preacher illustrated it this way: “It’s perfectly legal to run a race in army boots. It’s just not wise and would guarantee failure, but you can legally do it.”Many of the things that prevent spiritual growth and development are legal, they just don’t lead to success. Spiritual growth is very important, but real growth takes a while. It takes years for us to grow to adulthood. It takes a full season for fruit in a plant to mature and ripen.
The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. The development of Christ-like character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time. When you permit weight in your life it encumbers and chokes you up with activities that reduce your life to the pursuit of the mundane alone. Doing the Will of God encompasses the daily pursuit and eternal pursuit of God’s counsel. Weight reduces the speed of an object in motion and thereby making such progress to be deterred. God is taking you somewhere great, but in order to get there you need to lay aside every weight and grow up.
Running the race of Christianity requires patience and perseverance and discipline. The winner of a race is not determined at the beginning, it’s often known at the end. That you started out well is an advantage, but it doesn’t guarantee finishing strong and well. I sure have friends who we started out together in the gospel, who were very active and on fire. Some have left the Faith, others are in the Faith but their steam has gone down. How are you running the journey of your life? Is it swiftly or with caution? The race of a Christian is not for the fastest, but for those who have cultivated staying power. Real growth happens over time with staying power, doing what is right again and again.
FURTHER READING:
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Phil. 1:6.
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;” 1 Thess. 1:3.
DECLARATION:
Dear Abba Father, I thank You for Your goodness and mercies towards me. Lord, I ask that I be properly equipped to walk in the ways of patience and discipline that tends towards spiritual growth. Grant me the resilience and the staying power that keeps a man doing the right thing until it produces the right fruit. I receive imparting courage never to be weary of well doing, I lay hold on grace to produce enduring results in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Acts. 13:1-52.
Acts. 14:1-28.
Acts. 15:1-41.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
“Godliness Is The Holy Capacity To Say No When The World Is Waiting To Hear Yes.”
