TEXT: HEBREWS 12:1
''Wherefore seeing we also 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, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us''
The Christian man must needs ever strive to walk through this life, light, and free of anything that impedes his nimbleness and swiftness in his onward upward movements. A saint should know that, during his passage through this life, whatever does not help him, hinder him; and that anything that assists him not, resists him. Seekers of eternal rest in Christ Jesus, are called upon, therefore, to strip off that which drags them back in the pursuit of godliness and true faith. Anything a man hangs around himself, or that which hangs on him, that he does not need, passes for a weight to him: such needless things would impede his speed in spiritual matters, and may prove a source of sorrows to him at long last. Friends, if it is needless, it would prove a hindrance, resistance and a heavy load on your mind. To a godly man, nothing is useful unless it is subservient to the welfare of his soul and the glory of God's kingdom. The pride of life, the desires of the flesh and the shines that meet and take the eyes, put heavy weight upon the shoulders of men, which effects are anxiety, competition, fraud and underhanded dealings amongst men. If this covetous and discontented age had consulted Paul whereby a man can have peace from anxiety, he would tell her that it is by having food and raiment and content therewith. How men would pray like Agur Jakel, 'give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me' had they seen the hindering effects of needless earthly possessions. Christians, we need to look upon and around ourselves, to see if we are holding unto things that are of no help and need to our pilgrimage. Faith only must pick for us what are requisite and needful for us in this life. If a saint allows sight to decide for him what he needs for his passage en ”‹route heaven, it would assign for him nothing but weight that hinders than help. Sight is a heinous oracle, a blind one at that! Trust not the light of your sight, o Christians! Travel light! be simple! mind not shines and satin! Stay low and nimbler: rename yourself 'Light foot'