As you run the race of faith what’s holding you back? Nothing, you think. I’m living in the land of liberty. I have freedom to worship the god I want, the freedom to associate with the people I want. I even have freedom to do what I want, as long as I don’t encroach on the liberty of another. Ok, great – but there are still some thing, er pounds holding us back.
A study recently showed that for every pound a person loses he or she can run a mile 2.4 seconds faster. I’ll let you do the math, but since my freshmen year of high school, I’ve lost roughly a minute and a half off my mile time. Spiritually speaking, I would point to habits and routines that hold us back. Maybe it’s the habits that we don’t do? Has time spent in devotion been pushed to the side of your life? Faith come by hearing the message.
It’s one thing to worry about what’s holding you down, but the writer to the Hebrews talks about getting entangled. In this case don’t imagine a vine grabbing you as you happily jog down the street. Christian, be honest. We leave the safety of the path and go bounding through the thicket! All the while wondering, what went wrong. I don’t know the sins that get twisted into your life, but you do. The danger isn’t that you be slowed down by that sin. The danger is that you will die. Not just an untimely death in this life, this is eternal death in hell.
It is helpful to understand how the devil is attacking us. One of his tactics is to divide and conquer. You might think that this is impossible with all of the technology these days. We can talk to anyone in the world at any time for almost no cost. It’s truly amazing. Yet, there are studies that show we are lonelier than ever? Even the some of the youngest of us feel alone in a sea of people.
Know that you are never alone. You God is with you every where you go. More importantly he’s gone ahead of you. He already went to the cross so that you never will. On Palm Sunday as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and ancient symbol of peace, we know that the battle is over. At the end of this week that we call holy we will see his win the victory for us. You are forgiven.
Want to hear more? Check out the Palm Sunday sermon taken from Hebrews 12: Run the Race of Faith.
Topic(s): LentBook(s): Hebrews
Tag(s): Lent, Persecution
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg