Everything That Hinders?

As I once again redefine my morning devotional time, I've settled into reading whole books at a time. Last week I knocked out several shorter epistles, and today I read through Hebrews. I really do encourage you to try reading an entire book at a time - sometimes we miss the big picture because we're only taking in a few verses at a time.

Today I just wanted to comment on one verse - Hebrews 12:1. It says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

I love this verse and the visual it creates. I've reflected on this before, how runners wear no more clothing than is necessary in order to run their very best. Swimmers take it a step further and shave all the hair off their bodies!

It's easy to look at this verse and understand the "sin that so easily entangles" part. Without question, sin trips us up and causes us to be slow in the race and unfruitful in our Christian lives. But there are two dangers listed here: the sin just mentioned, and other things that "hinder" us, but perhaps are not sinful in themselves.

In my own life I see lots of things that could probably be considered morally neutral but do not contribute to my running the race well.* On the contrary, they tend to hinder me - weights that simply slow me down or distract me from what I should otherwise be focused on.

* Some of those are randomly, aimlessly browsing the internet, playing video games by myself, and not having a plan on how to be productive with my "free" time. And I just realized my perfectionism is often a hindrance as well.

Without a doubt our world is overflowing with these: tv programs, video games and really all manner of gadgets and gizmos. But we add to them with procrastination and poor time management, saying yes to too many things, sleeping in or taking naps or adding fruitless hobbies to our lives.

I'm not saying having any of those things in your life is bad - just that they can easily become hindrances in running hard after Christ. Have you taken stock lately of your own life and what it's filled with? Are you not only seeking to rid yourself of the sin that so easily entangles, but are you also genuinely considering those more subtle time wasters that hinder your obedience to the Lord?