Today’s scripture: Hebrews 12:1-12 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Vivian Wyatt):
“. . . let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
The army of Alexander the Great was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared that the Persians might get the better of it. Alexander’s soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous victories that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander immediately commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon came to see the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them — they walked lightly again.” Alexander’s soldiers won the battle.
In 1845, the Franklin Expedition sailed from England to find a passage across the Arctic Ocean. The crew loaded two ships with a lot of things they didn’t need: a 1,200-volume library, fine china, crystal goblets, and sterling silverware for each officer with his initials engraved on the handles. Amazingly, each ship took only a 12-day supply of coal for their auxiliary steam engines.
The ships became trapped in a vast sea of ice. After several months, Lord Franklin died. The men decided to trek to safety in small groups, but none of them survived. One story is especially incredulous. Two officers pulled a large sled more than 65 miles across the treacherous ice. When rescuers found their bodies, they discovered that the sled was filled with table silver. Can you believe it? Tableware! How much farther could they have gotten if they had left the knives and forks behind?
Those men of the Franklin expedition contributed to their own death by carrying what they didn’t need. Alexander’s soldiers would have been defeated and even slaughtered by carrying what they didn’t need. But don’t we do the same? Don’t we drag baggage through life that we don’t need? Grudges that we haven’t forgiven; jealously because we don’t have what someone else has; resentment that someone didn’t do what we wanted; bitterness, envy, strife; the sins that cling so closely.
How much easier it would be to run this race of life if we were to get rid of this baggage. How much easier it would be if we were to look at others through the lens of love.
Prayer for the day: God, help me to jetsam the baggage I’ve been carrying around for years. I want to finish this race strong. I don’t want to carry anything that would slow me down. Amen
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.