What’s Slowing You Down?

When it comes to luggage, I’m everyone’s worst nightmare. I pack more stuff than I end up using and am always trying to squeeze my bulging carry-ons into the plane’s overhead bins. The idea is to travel as lightly as possible, but I seldom manage to do this.

The same principle is true of our spiritual lives. We need to set aside the things that drag us down spiritually. Hebrews 12:1 tells us, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians, "What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (3:8).

I love that word rubbish. It sounds so proper. It’s what the Brits call garbage. But from the original language, the word rubbish that Paul used in Philippians 3:8 can be translated as "waste," "dung," "manure," or "excrement." What Paul was referring to were his religious credentials and pedigree, which were quite impressive. Yet he was saying, "All that stuff that used to mean so much to me doesn’t mean anything now. It’s garbage. It’s worthless compared to the excellence of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord."

So periodically we should ask ourselves, Is there something or someone that is slowing me down in the race of life? If so, lay them aside. Run from what is dragging you down. And run to what is building you up.