So since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.
Troy (our 31 y/o son) ran a half-marathon last week! That's 13 miles; he ran it in 01:54:36. That's 13 consecutive miles at less than 9 minutes per mile!
I'm pretty sure that he didn't carry a cell phone, a pen knife, his wallet, a spare pair of shoes, or even a water bottle with him. I'm betting that he was slimmed down to the bare essentials - no extra weight!
When I leave to hike the Appalachian Trail, it'll be the same for me. I'll pack and repack until I'm confident that I only have what I need; no luxury items! I'll have 300 mountains to climb before I reach Mt. Katahdin; believe me, I only want to carry what I must have!
Our spiritual lives are similar. We are here for one primary purpose: to live for the praise of God's glory [Ephesians 1:6,12,14]! Yet, it's so easy to get distracted. It's easy to pick up extra stuff along the way.
The author of Hebrews reminds us to pare down. Hit the delete button. Remove the distractions! Restore our focus! Set your mind on Heaven! The promise of God's Word is that if you do this, you will be even happier than Troy was when he finished his race!
Happy running! See you at the end!
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