Weights

 May 16, 2022

“Let us lay aside every weight…” —Hebrews 12:2

I can’t ever remember watching a track meet where the contestants wore heavy boots and coats. There is nothing wrong with wearing such clothing if one is outside shoveling snow, but it’s not exactly helpful in the 100 yard dash. I think that’s what the writer here is getting at. There should be no question about laying aside sin—those habits and proclivities that are clearly forbidden in Scripture. But there are other things that are not wrong in themselves, but can be hindrances to the life to which we have been called as Christians. They weigh us down so we cannot run well.

But there is another kind of weight that has lately been on my mind; the weight we carry in our hearts. For some, it is guilt, for others, regrets, for still others worry or fear. There is also the weight of responsibility. Jesus said of these weights, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We are often wearied with life itself. We remember missed opportunities, we worry about the future, we stew in unforgiveness, we fret over circumstances of life we are powerless to change. “Bring these weights to me,” Jesus says. They aren’t sins; but they are obstacles that prevent us from running the race and winning the prize. 

One thing we forget about weights is that it is possible once we’ve laid them down, to pick them up again. Our minds go back and rehearse over and over again whatever issue has been weighing us down. We lay it down, only to pick it up again. Keep laying it down! What weight are you carrying today? Lay it down once more!