Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” This episode discusses how God wants us to lay down our sins and follow him on the path He set ahead of us. It also talks about how shame is not from God and we can refuse to accept it. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Lay Aside Every Sin That Clings So Closely
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
I got this verse from Diane’s witness yesterday. I really like how it talks about how we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. This is why I am so excited to be able to bring you a different witness each week. When we get to see what other people experience and what other people struggle with it helps us see that we are not alone. We see that other people struggle too. Oftentimes it seems like everyone else is doing great and we wonder why we are the only ones that struggle. We wonder why others have it so easy and everything seems hard for us. You would never know just by looking at someone that they were struggling with unforgiveness, that their husband was dying, or that they lost a child. This is only something you would find out when you got to know the person.
This verse is calling us to lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely. What is that sin for you? What sins are we clinging to, or are clinging to us? Do you feel like when you go to confession you are always saying the same sins over and over again? Do you feel as though you are struggling with having the same weight on your shoulders all the time. For instance, maybe the weight God is calling you to lay aside is the worry about your loved ones. Do you find that you are constantly worried and feel like you have to fix all of their problems? The Lord is saying, look around you. I am taking care of everyone else, I will take care of your loved ones too. Look at the way I am helping others, you don’t have to worry, I have got them. Maybe the sin you are struggling with is unforgiveness. God is telling us, lay that sin aside, you can do it. I know forgiveness is hard and I know that you can do hard things. Remember Tina, it took her 20 years, but she did it in the end. Look around you at how others are learning to forgive and learn from them.
The next part of the verse says, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” What stuck out to me in this part are the words, set before us. God has a plan for each one of us. He sets out the course in front of us and shows us where to go one step at a time. And yet sometimes we don’t want to go on that course. We don’t want to run the race that is set before us, we want to blaze our own path, do our own thing. God is patient with us and usually He will just keep calling us back on track. Eventually we figure it out and we start to run the race He set before us, but we still have a few detours every now and then. Why is this? Why can’t we just stay on the path He has for us? I think it because we don’t see the whole picture and so His plan doesn’t always make sense to us. We don’t see why we have to do something and instead of trusting that God has it all worked out, we do what makes sense to us in our minds. I don’t think we mean to stray off the path, I think sometimes we just don’t know what God wants because we are not taking the time to slow down and ask him. It’s like when you are driving in a car and you are not sure what exit to get off at, or which turn to take. Your passenger knows how to get where you are going, but are talking to them while you are driving and you don’t give them a chance to tell you to turn right at the next light. If we want to know how to get to where God is leading us, then we need to spend some time listening to his directions.
Life is hard and I can definitely see why God is telling us to run with perseverance because we can run into a lot of obstacles and without perseverance we might give up or give in to the worries and hardships of life. I am sure this has happened to all of us at one point or another. I am sure we have all had things happen to us and we wondered how we can still go on. How we could ever feel better or how we could even heal. I am sure Diane asked herself this after she lost her only son. Some tragedies feel as if they are too much too bear. In this verse God is telling us to keep getting back up when life knocks us down. Keep running the race that is set before you. If you think you can’t keep running, you don’t have the energy or the power to get back up again, God tells us where to look.
The last part of the verse says, “looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. If we want to know what we should do we can look back and see how Jesus would have handled it. I remember a time when everyone was wearing bracelets that said “WWJD.” This stood for What Would Jesus Do. This is a great question to ask ourselves. We are not called to be perfect, we are called to be Holy. God knows that we won’t always get it right and I think He is more than ok with that. However, He does want us to keep trying to get it right. He wants us to keep looking at Jesus and to do our best to be a reflection of Jesus to all those that we meet.
Another really important part of this verse that I think is important to mention is the part where it says that Jesus endured the cross, disregarding it’s shame. I wasn’t really sure what this meant, especially in some of the other translations. When I looked it up it said that dying a cross was a shameful way to die. However, Jesus, never once accepted that shame. He accepted that He needed to die on the cross, but He didn’t feel shame for it. He held His head high and never took the shame that people were throwing at Him in. We can do this too. Shame is not something that comes from God. Shame is something that comes from the enemy. Yes, God does want you to realize when you have sinned and He wants you to repent. However, He does not want you to feel shameful. He wants us all to know how much we are loved. There is nothing we can to get in the way of that love. There is nothing that will make God stop loving you. Nothing you can do and nothing anyone else can do. God loves you completely and He always will.
Shame is a weapon the enemy uses to bring us down. Shame is a weapon used to keep us in the dark and keep us away from God’s love. If we are feeling shame then it is hard to feel God’s love. We feel as though we are not worthy of God’s love and that God couldn’t possible love us if he knew what we did or what had been done to us. Guess what? God does know what happened and He loves you anyway. When we are allowing shame into our lives, we are allowing the darkness. This darkness can swallow up the Light if you allow it to. Living in the dark in not fun for anyone, if you are living in the dark, know that you are not alone. Look to Jesus, he is our salvation. Look to Jesus and release yourself of the shame you have been holding on to. If you can not release it on your own then keep bringing it to God and asking Him to release you. He would be happy to! God is calling us to lay aside every weight and sin so we can run the race set before us. If you are unable to do this, ask for help. God is waiting for us to turn to Him and ask Him for help. What is taking us so long? You don’t have to wait until you are ready to forgive to ask God for help. He can help you get ready, if you ask.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us release our sins. Help us to release any shame we may be holding on to. Lord, help us to know that you love us no matter what we do. Lord, we want to run the race set before us, help us to stay on the path you set out of us. Help us to not get side tracked or to veer off course because we don’t understand your plan. Help us to just trust that you are leading us on the best route. Lord, help us to know, to really know, that we don’t have to accept shame into our lives. Even if it is being given to us by those that love us. We can reject shame and refuse to let it in. We love you Lord, you are so very amazing. We are so grateful for you loving guidance and the example you gave us in Jesus. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen
Thank you so much for joining me one this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!