Hebrews 12:1-2 | What is the lesson for me today?

I have been undergoing a recent paradigm shift. It becomes extremely clear when I look at this week's text. It is one I have been aware of for some time, but hadn't exactly known what to do with it. The solution becomes clear in the passage. Let me spell out the problem and then I will draw attention to the solution.

In times past, I have read this passage and have been caught up in exactly what I wrote about yesterday. Weights and sins terrified me. I wanted to be able to run the race well. So what I would do is prayerfully and critically examine my life to identify weights and sins. Many occasions over, I purged a great many things from my life to ensure that I no longer had weights and sins that would so threaten me. To my own frustration, this often proved to be a fruitless endeavor. No matter how many times I laid these things aside, it seemed I never made very much progress. It wasn't that the things would simply come back. Many of them never did. But I forgot the most important element of laying aside the weight and sin. It was so that I could run the race set before me! I was so focused on laying these things aside that I forgot to run! It was as though my entire Christian walk became about managing weight and sin. We call this sin management. And many believers have found themselves in similar boats. In laying these aside, if I only turn my eyes to Jesus and look upon Him I will see the direction I must go.

Imagine for a moment that you have taken a look at your life and realized that it has become very difficult to move and function. After a couple doctors visits and self-reflection, the old culprit of diet comes back into view. You know it is time to change things up. You get a large black trash bag, march into the pantry, and aggressively toss all the junk food away. You know it has been ruining your life and has taken years away from you. There may be hesitation with some of the items, but you still commit to cleaning house. You go through and purge it all. You take the trash bag and dump it in the dumpster. Returning to the house, you smile as you look at your cleaned out pantry. Having done that, your diet has begun! You feel accomplished and call it a day.

What is the problem with the above scenario? The food was never replaced! It is just empty space. And eventually, you're going to get hungry. We may do a sufficient job at cleaning everything out, but that does not mean that we are eating healthy. So the same for our spiritual walks. We may have sufficiently dealt with weights and sins in our life, but if we never look unto Jesus, we will never be able to run with the energy that is required of us. We remove these things so that we may clearly see Him. We remove these things so we may freely run to Him. But us, our weights, and our sins are not the focus. Jesus is the focus, and we must keep Him in view.

What lesson are you taking away?