Pack Your Baggage, HoneySample

 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Heb. 12:1). 

The Summer Olympics in London has just ended. Watching the runners move on their assigned courses was spectacular. They ran with such determination, and speed. They made it look easy. Not one of them carried anything extra as they raced toward the finish line. Not a pen tucked into their pocket, not a piece of paper, not a slice of gum—in fact, they didn’t even have a pocket—and definitely, not an extra ounce of fat. The clothes they wore were fitted and streamlined to give them every advantage of speed. They had endured years of training and were focused, ready to go when the shot sounded. They laid aside every encumbrance for the sake of that one race. 

This is what the writer of Hebrews is saying to us as well. He is telling us there are two things we Christians MUST DO if we are to compete in the race God has set out for us. We must lay aside our encumbrances and run unhindered. You see, encumbrances have a nasty habit of entangling us and making it impossible for us to run. We can stay entangled in our heavy load, whether a memory or a traumatic event, long after the event has passed. This is exactly what happens to many Christians. This kind of heavy load, can trip us up and keep us from running well and experiencing a victorious Christian life. 

Here in South Carolina, we have a parasitic vine called Kudzu. Kudzu starts out small but left unchecked it grows and grows, entangling everything in its path. For the Christian, our emotional baggage left unchecked can do the same thing. It can tangle us up so that ultimately all we can do is lay down in bondage and surrender. But that is not what God wants for us. No, He wants for us to “put off from ourselves” the encumbrances that weigh us down. God wants for us to divest everything that is holding us back from a long and abundantly satisfying run of faith. The Christian journey is one that most definitely demands light packing.