The Weight and the Long Race

The writer of Hebrews says, 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. Two things sit together here. First, the laying aside of the weight. A runner strips off anything that would slow him, and the writer names sin as something that clings, that wraps around the legs and drags. Some of what we carry is not sin itself but weight, the habits and situations and quiet compromises that make the sin's clinging easier, and part of running well is honestly setting those down. Second, and this is the word I need most, endurance. This is described as a race run with endurance, not a sprint won in a single burst. Men in this fight often expect to be free by now, and when the years pass and the struggle continues they conclude they are failing. The writer expects a long race. Endurance assumes that the road is long and the point is to keep running rather than to have already arrived. You are not disqualified for still being on the course. Lay down what you can lay down today, and then keep going, one more day of running toward the God who set the race before you and waits at its end.