Lose the Weights

I remember as a child going to the county fair with my father.  Having grown up on a farm, my dad loved to see the tractor-pulling contests.  The object of these contests was to see whose tractor could pull a weighted sled the farthest.  However, the sled was designed to increase the weight load closer to the tractor as the sled was towed.  This old tractor pull video shows how this works.  It is obvious that as the sled weight shifts and increases resistance on the tractor, it will eventually keep the tractor from moving forward.

This is a good illustration of our spiritual lives.  We can allow weights of many kinds to hinder our spiritual growth.  Hebrews 12:1 reminds us to "lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the races that is set before us."  We know that any disobedience to God's known will is a weight that must be removed to gain the prize of eternity. Yet, do we take into consideration how areas of our lives that aren't inherently evil weigh down our lives because of the time,effort, and expense we put into them?  These weights cause us to be like Martha--distracted by many temporal things and less like Mary who chose the eternal things.  Eventually, they will stop our progress toward godliness.

Hebrews 12:1 makes it clear we must get rid of anything that hinders us in our race for eternal glory.  Could it be that we need to assess what we allow to weigh us down in life?  We might be surprised that it has nothing to do with a sin issue, but a priority issue.

Come see us Sunday.  We will talk about that,
Pastor Jeff