…unless it is part of our fitness regime! “…let us lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 says that sin, and the things we try to ignore, plus the semi-forgotten stuff – weighs us down spiritually. We need to decide to deal with it with the Lord. It can get tangled up around our feet if we do not deal with it. It will cause us to spend our time in the land of condemnation and regret. Spend time in His Presence being grateful, instead! “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …” SomeBody else paid – Jesus carried that weight.
Things like idolatry, murder, lying, etc. are really obvious sins, however, I think Paul makes a fantastic point: “… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead …” Philippians 3:13. Our point of faith looks like this: we pray over whatever we’ve done that is weighing us down and ask Him to show us if there is anything we need to act on to repair things. First, we ask for His forgiveness, then we thank the Holy Spirit, and ask Him for His insight and wisdom. Now if I’ve hurt someone I need to go and ask their forgiveness. I don’t make excuses, I just confess my fault. If something needs to be done about my sin then I go and do whatever is necessary. Why? Because I value His Presence more than my pride or embarrassment.
After that, I give every single bit of it back to Him a-n-d … I leave it there. If I get emotional, worried or distraught about that subject, it is important to go back the Lord and ask and thank Him for His comfort, a-n-d then … put it down AGAIN. Don’t skip repentance and confession. Sin is a barrier to freedom in the spirit – it renders us deaf and more easily deceived. The critical thing is to deal with things but leave the weight of them on Jesus, instead of lumping it about weighing down our hearts. I’ve learnt, from experience, that heavy hearts can’t pray easily.
Laying aside weights is an ordinary part of Christian living, but that does not mean that we have a free pass to walk away from our responsibility to fix things. There are too many scriptures that make it clear we need to fix whatever we have broken. Meanwhile after we’ve done all He tells us to do, it can be incredibly valuable, to take our hands off things. ”Having done ALL, STAND!” Ephesians 6:13. Having repented etc. standing is essential. The enemy is not about to let go of areas in our minds and emotions easily – we will probably need to insist. Guilt over something we’ve confessed, repented about, and changed our ways with His help – is false guilt – it is a shadow cast by the enemy into our heart to weigh us down.
We all know that sin is the poison that pollutes our faith. And I am not talking about tolerating sin – when we do that, we can easily start explaining what God said in the book away – by making excuses for ourselves etc. The aim is to do everything we can, then roll the care over onto Him. With any stubborn sin I’ve also learnt that it is valuable to confess my fault to someone else, and ask them to pray with me, and for me. Humility releases more Grace to overcome. It goes without saying that I avoid any situations that might lead me back into sin again … It goes without saying that we need to take our sin seriously. Our sin killed Christ. We cannot be blase about something so serious.
It is also good to remember that sin is also not just what we do, it is also what we don’t do. It is unfortunately much too easy to ignore the poor, or even the needs of our own immediate families because our lives are busy. In Isaiah 58:7 it says: “…is it not to divide your bread with the hungry. And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh.” Jesus Himself told us to remember the poor, and so did the Apostle Paul. It’s in the book. And the Lord Jesus was extremely respectful to His mother and brothers even when they did not understand what He was doing.
The minute we decide to change our sinful ways, the weight of sin becomes easy because Jesus already carried it. We don’t have to be ashamed, because SomeBody else already bore that shame.The past is now the past – we need to put it down. And because Jesus has taken our sin for us, we must resist going back to pick it up again. This area is the battlefield … but this battle belongs to the Lord so we can always ask for His help. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Father God wants to give all of us the total freedom to be with Him and not be ashamed. Jesus paid the cost – He took the weight, the shame, the regret, the damage of sin, and He redeemed it.
That very act shows us the lengths that our God will go to, to have His kids walking with Him. What is of primary importance is our response. Is it gratitude, honouring Him, and a life of service with the Holy Spirit guiding us? The consequences of our sin fell on Christ, but we need to remember to ask for His help to let go of the weight of it. 👋🏻
