I went to our convention center yesterday and as I was going into one of the buildings I remembered being in the arena for basketball, concerts and even the Ice Capades! I was a kid and my parents had taken us to see the Ice Capades. They had created ice on the floor and there was a great show put on by all these folks on ice skates. The memory that sticks with me was of a guy, who seemed to be a great skater, and he was doing a routine with some others and all of the men were wearing stretch pants with a stirrup kind of strap that went from one side of the pants and through the skates and then must have snapped or buttoned to the other side. While I watched this talented guy performing, all of us saw that stirrup/strap come loose and was hanging on the outside part of the pants and dragging on the ice. The real danger there was that if it got caught between the ice and the skate blade, this guy was going to take a header into the frozen arena. But this guy was a real pro. He saw what had happened and without missing a beat, he reached down and ripped the stirrup off the end of the pants and pitched it off to the side so no one else would get tripped up by it. He did it so quickly and never missed a beat of the routine he and others were doing. I was so impressed that out of that whole magical night…I still remember just that. As I walked by that old building last night, I couldn’t help but think back on what the writer of the Hebrews wrote about that same kind of situation. Instead of ice skating, he used the image of a race. And he said that as followers of this Jesus of the Bible, we are running a race set before us. And he said to throw off anything that would slow us down or so easily entangle us…and cause us to stumble. That’s sin that does that to us. We need to be like that skater from so many years ago. And without issue or hesitation, to take the sin that we still deal with and rip it off and throw it out of our way. That night, there were hundreds of people who saw how that young man handled something that could have caused him to stumble. But he knew it had to go and didn’t hesitate for an instant but threw it out of his way and out of the way of those who were performing with him. That’s what God calls us to do as well. Don’t be indecisive or slow about sin. Get rid of it. There is no good that can ever come of it. You are running a race for Christ that will end up in his presence. Remember to fix your eyes not on the crowd, or the sin…but on Jesus himself. And become one of those on this center stage of history that people remember for the way that you didn’t let some crummy sin bring any kind of ruin to your race. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Hebrews 12:1-2 BSB Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. (2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ
Hebrews 12:1-2 BSB Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. (2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ