There is a verse that I feel has a strong message for us today.
'Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.'
'Lay aside every weight' - put down and leave, cast away, cut off everything that weighs you down and prevents you from running with full energy and vigour the race that God has called you to. Dump anything that is slowing you down or hindering you from becoming all God has called you to be. Break off all the waste of time junk that diverts you from the singular calling of God upon your life.
Lay aside 'the sin that does so easily beset you' - there is one particular sin in our lives that trips us up again and again. If you look honestly at your Christian walk, you will discover that it is one individual sin that causes you the same problem over and over again. You think you have dealt with it and sorted it out, but then it gets you again and leaves you wallowing in the mud of defeat and discouragement. The apostle himself, whilst writing this, acknowledged that he knew exactly what he was talking about. He talks of the sin that so easily and skilfully drags us down to where we should not be. It may be a very different area of temptation and sin for each of us, but it is that one thing that we keep having to come back to God to say sorry for all the time.
We need to lay it aside. We need to do what the scripture is telling us. It is not beyond our ability, nor beyond the power that works in us. We need to look to what we are called and destined to be. There is a race to get back into and a mission to accomplish.
Write down on a page what it was that God called you to do. Look back over your life and remember the time when God spoke to you and burned into your heart a mission, a destiny, a call that cannot be extinguished, even though you may have grown cold and careless and feel that you have failed too much to be of any use anymore. It is time to dump all the junk, the time-wasters, the other interests that divert your mind and heart from your higher calling.
You were born for this time. It is high time now to awake from our sleep and get dressed into the uniform of those who are called to be soldiers, warriors, and overcomers. This is the moment to hear the word!
The soon return of Jesus Christ is clearly on the horizon. The world and all its evil, along with the demonic war that is being waged against humanity, has never been so evident as it is right now.
Get right, get forgiven.
Understand that when Christ called you He knew both the successes and the failures that would be part of your history. He took all of that into account when he chose you to follow him. Do not give up now just because you have been beaten by sin and failure more times than you can recall. You are here in the purpose and destiny of God.
It is time to arise, cast off absolutely everything that holds you back, and let the light of Jesus Christ permeate your whole being. You are called to this desperate hour. It is God who does the work. We just need to make ourselves utterly available to him.
He uses broken instruments and powerless individuals to show his glory and his power through, so that no flesh will boast or take the glory for what happens next.
Hear what God is saying through these few words, and get yourself ready to be all that God has called you to be.
