BP 203
What weighs on you as you navigate daily life? What burdens you? What sucks your energy and occupies your attention? Have you ever stopped to consider what most often fills your mind space?
Let’s briefly look at two passages in Scripture that speak to what might be heavy on your mind and heart.
The first passage is Hebrews 12:1,2b: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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, looking to Jesus . . .”
The word “weight” in this passage refers to a burden or impediment that impedes how you run the race of faith. Mentioned alongside this burdensome weight is sin, certainly an unwanted hindrance for believers as they run the race of obedience and joy. Here in Hebrews, then, we see that one weight we carry is a negative one, a burden that interferes with the race Jesus has called us to run.
Sin is an obvious weight. It is like a backpack filled with rocks that makes our faith journey tedious and heavy, maybe even miserable or near to impossible. We can all think of sins that cling closely to us and interfere with both our short-distance and long-distance run. These sins might include those mentioned in Colossians 3: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and idolatry which is covetousness.”
Galatians 5:19ff refers to the works of the flesh, some of which overlap with the list in Colossians: “Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”
Clearly, all these sins are a weight that bog us down as we attempt to run the race as Jesus did. Just take a look at how all these sins conflict with the attributes of the Spirit that Jesus desires us to run toward and attain: ”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . . .”
But what is the writer of Hebrews saying when he mentions “every weight?” Are these weights or impediments the same as sin or different? Making a distinction between “every weight” and “sin” is not the main point of this post, but it might be worth considering for a moment.
What might impede you running with endurance the race set before you besides obvious sin? Maybe these are all types of sin, but could examples of these “weights” include some of the following:
+ lack of discipline
+ not dealing with unfinished psychological issues from the past that could easily transfer to current relationships including God Himself
+ being a people pleaser because you fear anger
+ being nice to people because you are not strong enough to deal with conflict and so you compromise your leadership and even parenting ability
+ subtly using people instead of loving them—loving them for what they do for you instead of loving them for who they are
+ hiding from others instead of moving toward them due to things like fear or inconvenience to you—so much for serving and loving your neighbor, the second great commandment
+ blaming others for your problems instead of taking the log out of your own eye
+ accusing others of not being worthy of your trust when the truth might be that your trust is easily injured due to your hypersensitivity
+ overprotecting yourself due to past rejection—you see everyone as a potential rejector and end up defending yourself even against love
+ avoidance of past abuse or trauma that majorly prevents your spiritual and psychological growth
+ wanting life easy and comfortable and so choosing not to grow
+ focusing so much on hating sin that you do not develop your ability to love Christ and others
Some scholars see “every weight” and “sin” in Hebrews 12:1 as synonymous. I think we could look at them both on a continuum from obvious sin to subtle relational sin that still might be powerful enough to distort our view of God or represent coping skills that distance us from God and those around us. How easy it is to preach against blatant sin while failing to see the destructive power of subtle relational, spiritual, and psychological “weights” that keep us from running the race well.
Now that we have taken a brief look at examples of the type of weight that interferes with us running well, let’s look at another weight mentioned in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
In this passage, we see another biblical reference to “weight.” Even though the Greek word here is different than the one used in Hebrews 12, it can be used to refer to a burden or weight just as the word used in Hebrews. In fact, in Matthew 20:12 the word refers to the “burden” of work in the vineyard. However, the best way to interpret this word in the context of 2 Corinthians 12 is “fulness.”
So, what is this 2 Corinthians passage saying relative to a weight or burden? Even though our physical bodies are being destroyed, our inner spiritual (and psychological) selves are being renewed—they are growing every day as we walk with Jesus. The affliction, burdens, impediments of this world are light compared to the “weight/fulness” of glory beyond all comparison that is waiting for us beyond our transient bodies.
What a hope! This passage presents weight in an amazing sense! Day by day we are walking toward a rendezvous with the weight of renewal and glory.
While we are in this world, we will do a lot of groaning because we are not home yet–our bodies are daily being spoiled by sin and impending death. However, the point I want to make here is that we can fix our eyes on our earthly weight of sin and psychological unhealth and decaying bodies to some degree. However, we primarily need to be about the business (and joy) of running the race set before us “looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.” We must rehearse the weight of glory that lies ahead. We must fix our eyes on the prize.
Yes, deal with your obvious sin and the sinful psychological/relational/emotional coping skills and unhealth that bog down your run. But don’t make those your primary fixation. Remember the eternal “fulness” of glory that you are being prepared for daily. “Look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are seen are eternal.”
Said another way, look to the east for the return of Christ. Think about the second coming. Be like Jesus: for the weight of glory and joy that is set before you, endure the suffering of saying no to sin and the pain of being slowly destroyed in this world. Despise the shame by anticipating being in Jesus’ presence. Forever.
Think on the “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” What is that glory? At least part of it is identified in Colossians 3:4: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Jesus’ presence with us now is comfort and the promise of being in His presence fully one day in the future when He returns is our certain hope. Both will help us deal with the weight of fleeting sin and suffering as we travel through this world as sojourners and aliens. Foreigners, is how Paul describes us. Peter says we are elect exiles.
Reject the weight of sin and fleshly burdens. Run toward the weight of glory.
Practice these things.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” ~ John 1:14ff
