Letting Go Of Your Weights

Hebrews 12:1-2Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12 is often referenced when speaking about walking out our lives or in refraining from sinfulness. This morning I woke up and saw it through new eyes. Before the passage talks about sin or journey, it speaks about laying down the things that weigh on us.What are the things that weigh you down?Is it insecurity? Unforgiveness? Expectations others have for you? Doubt?You can ask that question to a million different people and get a million different answers. Although one thing that weighs many of us down is pain.Somewhere, somehow someone hurt you. It may have been intentional or a mistake someone made as a result of their own brokenness. But you were wounded and a natural response to pain is aversion.You being hurt may stop you from laughing as you once did or loving fully. I know my own pain keeps me from communicating my inner thoughts or articulating my struggles because I'm afraid that people won't accept me as I am. That fear is rooted in me feeling rejected or judged or in some other way cast off because of me taking off my mask and letting people see the fullness of who I am.My love, trust that I am saying this as much for you as I am for me.Let go.Let. It. Go.Let go of your pain and EVERY other thing that's holding you back and be alive. Fight and find a way to lighten your load.Talk to God. See to a therapist. Write. Scream. Throw things in the trash. Box. Cut off negative relationships.I don't know what it's going to take for you to be free. That's honestly something for you and God to work out because you are the only ones aware of the depth of your pain or how you came to your place of woundedness.But you have to let those weights go and I can give you three good reasons for doing it.1. The heavier you get, the less you can do. When you're less bogged down by weight of any sort, emotional or physical, you have the energy and dexterity to get more accomplished.2. The more you carry, the easier it is to harm others without realizing it. Think about a person in an airport or train trying to keep a hold of several bags. They're so wrapped up in managing them all that they don't see or feel if they've struck another person unless that other person speaks up. If you carry less baggage, you will be more aware of the world around you and have the capacity to be more sensitive to someone else's needs.3. Once you shed the weight of your baggage and become more aware, you will have a clearer vision of who you are and how you will engage the world around you. You have a purpose and a calling in this life. There is something, whether it be great or small, that you are meant to do BUT in order to get it done you need to sort through your baggage to do it. What I saw in Hebrews 12 this morning was a rallying cry for a dropping what holds you back. Take encouragement from verses 12 and 13 which state " ...lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed."Let it (whatever it may be) go so you can embrace your healing.