Man: "Hey, um... what's this about?"
God: "These are the tools I'm going to use to make you into my original masterpiece."
Man: "Oh, ok...HANG ON?....I thought you were a carpenter."
God: "That's my son. Here we go. Step right up. here we go."
Man: "Whoa whoa whoa...how do you know what to chisel and what to leave?"
God: "I take out all the things in your life that are not of ME. Kinda like dead weight."
Man: "Oh..speaking of that...could you chisel right in here?"
Two runners approach the starting line. Both have trained an equal amount of time, and are by any standard, matched in skill and endurance. The runner to our left leans to take his starting position. On him you will notice a light weight jogging suit, a cap to keep hair and sweat out of his eyes, and the cleats especially designed for this type of racing. Then, we glance at the runner to our right. We recognize him by his normal, everyday attire: loose jeans, cowboy boots, and a hoodie. On his wrist I notice the heavy watch he never goes anywhere without, and on his back I see his backpack. Now, you tell me. Who wins the race?
Hebrews 12:1-2 says "Wherefore, seeing we 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 before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher..."
Each day as we take our starting positions to begin the endurance race called life, we must determine what we will put on and take off. The passage above said that we must lay aside every weight AND the sin that easily trips us up. As born again children of God, the "sin subject" is easy for us to swallow. Each of us could look at our lives and say, "I know that lying, coveting, and gossip are sin, and I need to let go of those today." Easy enough because those things are clearly defined in the Bible. But if you read carefully, the Scripture didn't just say to lay aside the SIN...it said EVERY WEIGHT AND the sin. In our Christian lives, there are certain things we want to hold on to, that aren't necessarily wrong, but have become a weight hindering us from pursuing Jesus. Are jeans, cowboy boots, backpacks, and watches wrong? NO! But they are unneeded weights that hold back any runner.
In the skit, God says, "I take out all the things that are not of me. Kinda like dead weight." How often does God attempt to chisel some things from our life in order that we might run better, but we spend all of our time monopolizing control instead of allowing him to work and provide? What is your dead weight that you just won't let go? Money, entertainment, a job, relationships, ect... At times, these things we love...good things...weigh us down, and God asks for us to just let him have them. Do we really NEED them anyway? Today as you dig into the Word, allow God free reign with his chisel. Don't get on the defensive when he tries to chisel away something, because in the long run, He always provides. What is holding you back from going where God wants to you to go? Every thing, no matter how harmless, no matter how big or small, has the potential to speed you up, or slow you down. "God, please chisel away the dead weight that I can't see."
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