Hebrews 12:1-3 – Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
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I know that you are thinking that this is going to be the top 10 tips to weight loss, but that is not what we will be discussing today. I will say that I thought that this title might grab some attention though!
I would like for us to keep that perspective of weight loss to spiritual burdens. When it comes to losing weight, sometimes we see that we need to and sometimes we deny it. Other times we see that we need to but refuse to see why we ever got in the shape to start with.
When it comes to our walk with God and the burdens we carry, we often treat it with the same perspectives; we do not know exactly how we got in the shape we did, but we arrived there nonetheless. There are scriptures in the bible that indeed point us to cast off the weights that easily beset us. When I put that into perspective, all the things that easily bother me should be immediately put off as needs to God in prayer. God understands every need, no matter how great or small it is to our perspective. There is another scripture that says that nothing is impossible to God, and is indeed but a small thing.
So when we think about it like that, repenting and relinquishing ourselves of tough burdens should not be like the pains of dieting and exercise that we make it out to be! We can simply pray to God and ease the weight that we carry! Simple as that!
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Put Into Practice:
This will be an interesting task. I ask you to give it a try! Take a couple plastic bags and put one within the other to give it a little more strength (add 1-2 more if you want to). Begin to fill the bag up with objects until you begin to think that the weight would exceed the bag. At this point, pick up the back and try to simply hold it for a minute. After that, perhaps you can try (without actually hurting yourself) to walk around while carrying the bags around.
When doing this in practice it is easy to see how easy it would be to begin to feel weighted down without continual prayer and communication to God each day. Without the casting off of the weights that would beset us, I am bold enough to say that eventually we will begin to beset others; especially those that need to be led to a relationship to Christ! Get rid of anything weighing you down and draw closer to God! Let the lightness by the strength of His spirit encourage you!