You.

Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. Hebrews twelve one have you ever walked through a cobweb? It's a creepy feeling, isn't it? A cobweb is a sticky, tangly, creepy, crawly kind of thing that you can't seem to get off no matter how hard you try. What makes your skin crawl even more, of course, is knowing full well that the web was made by a spider. And where there's a web, the spider's not far away. To have a spider web on you is one thing. To have the spider that made it on you is quite another. There's a story of a man who, at a prayer meeting one Sunday was heard to pray, o Lord, please get rid of all the spider webs in our lives that keep us from doing what we should. An old elder of the church overhearing the prayer butted in with his own prayer. No, lord, he said, don't do that, but please kill the spiders that make those webs. The best way to get rid of spider webs is to get rid of the spiders that make them. If we don't get rid of the spiders, we will never get rid of the real problem, and those webs will just keep coming back to entangle us again and again. That was the point that the writer of Hebrews was making in chapter twelve. He likened our walk with Christ to a race. There is much at stake in this race. There are no participation trophies awarded to those who simply show up. The prize goes only to the winner. So we all have to run to the best of our ability, but we will never be able to run effectively or compete well unless and until we get rid of all those things that impede us from doing so. If you go to a track meet, you will see athletes trotting around in their sweats, warming up for their events. But when it comes time to race, those athletes peel off their sweatshirts and their sweatpants. They want to get rid of everything that will tie them up and slow them down. We can't live properly for the Lord if we stay wrapped up in sins and habits that prevent us from doing so. We need to do whatever it takes to get rid of everything that keeps us from running and winning the race marked out for us.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.