“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

 A few years ago I read a book called, “Racing Weight”.  It was a book about how runners can increase their speed by shedding body fat percentages.  Same level of fitness, with less body fat and you will go faster.  Makes sense as any kind of weight tends to slow us down.  I see it all the time in companies where the organization has taken on too much expense or too many people and the company just gets slower.  Ultimately, they can’t complete the marathon either because they have too much weight wearing them down.  We can see many companies try and decrease this burden by reorganizing, laying off and then trying to redefine work process for greater efficiency and productivity.  Of course, like a person, there is an impact to too large of a weight loss all at once.  Muscle gets reduced too and with enough continued weight swings, up and down, the body can’t figure out at what level to recover.  As we consider the long tun in our organizations we should also, like the elite Olympic marathoners will do this coming weekend and next, closely monitor our weight to be sure that we are where we are supposed to be at all times.

Paul knew something about weight.  He carried many burdens from his past and his present.  He references running a few times in the Bible so he might also have known the difference that a few pounds of weight can make in one’s ability to cover a long distance.  We are told to strip the weights of our sin and to run with endurance God’s race for us.  As we go to work today and think about the years we have in front of us to bring glory to God, what is the weight we are carrying that just needs to go away once and for all?  We all have it, and like any other weight issue, if not addressed it hangs around and gets harder and harder each year to remove.  Consider that today, of all days, would be the time to start paying attention to this weight.

Reference: Hebrews 12:1 (New Living Translation)