Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
I’ve read this passage more times than I can remember, but it came into sharp focus this week as I chewed on it over and over again. And I’m certain that I’m only scratching the surface, so I’m sure I’ll write about this very same passage again someday. These two verses don’t just tell us what we need to do, but they tell us how to do it and why we need to do it. I like that – clear instructions. But we’re human, aren’t we?
If you’re anything like me, you might still struggle… even with clear instructions. I just can’t seem to help still getting tripped up from time to time. I’ve mentioned, over the last few weeks, that looking to Jesus – keeping our focus on Him and leaning more and more on Him – is a game changer. If we’re struggling in any area of our life, keeping our focus on Him will improve everything.
And God knew we would struggle with even that.
It’s hard to solely focus on Jesus when there’s so much heartache, uncertainty, and friction. Struggling to make ends meet… focusing on Jesus is going to help my bank account? Trouble in marriage… how is focusing on Jesus going to fix my spouse, I mean our problems? One of our kiddos is headed down the wrong road… and my keeping my eyes on Jesus is going to get them back on the right one?
I wouldn’t normally say this, but all of those things are some of the weights that we’re to strip off so they don’t slow us down. Let me rephrase because these things – these people – are not inherently bad for us… the anxiety, worry, and fear that can be produced from those are the weights that we’re to strip off. Marriage and family are part of God’s design. Healthy finances allow us to grow God’s kingdom. But we tend to elevate them above God from time to time and we can venture down a rabbit trail of regrets pretty quickly.
Our simple day-to-day can start becoming our sole focus. We pour our energy and time into the relationships with our kiddos and spouse. We track our finances to the penny and stress over the rising cost of everything. It’s no wonder we find ourselves struggling – we’re elevating the very things that God tells us will weigh us down. Add to that the whispers from the enemy that remind us of all the ways we’ve messed up that might loosely tie in with our relationships and budget issues.
Our nine-year-old came trudging downstairs the other morning and asked me a question that I felt down deep. She asked, Mom, have you ever been so tired that when you’re lying down you feel so heavy that you don’t think you can move? I’m sure you can guess that my answer to that was a yes. It’s as though all of the weight of all the things I wasn’t meant to carry was pressing into me and holding me down.
You’ve heard the saying Let go and Let God, right? I struggle with both parts of that. I struggle with the letting go and the letting God. I might set the weight down at His feet for just enough time to feel strong enough to pluck it back up.
As I was praying about this and chewing on these two verses, I kept picturing a woman on a journey. She would sometimes walk, sometimes she would jog or run, and other times she would skip like a child. There were even plenty of times that she would stop and rest. But she was always going in the same direction. She was until something had her glance over her shoulder to look behind her.
After that small glance, there was no more skipping. She stopped jogging and running and even her walking seemed more labored. After that small glance, she stopped more often, but there was very little rest because she continued to glance over her shoulder and dwell on whatever it was that she saw. She sat down tired and was just as tired when she got up to try to continue on. Something was holding her back or weighing her down.
Or a bit of both.
Maybe you’ve heard of – or read for yourself – the story of Lot’s wife (Genesis 19:1-26). More often than not, this is a story that is used as a warning to not disobey God. While I can see a bit of how people can draw that conclusion, it doesn’t make sense that she gets turned to a pillar of salt for looking back when Lot also hesitated and argued for a different destination. We have to read the Bible – from cover to cover – through the lens of Jesus and God’s grace. Her being turned into a pillar of salt for a matter of disobedience doesn’t fully sit right with me.
But what of Lot’s wife? Why was she turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back? God could have just struck her down, but He chose to turn her into a pillar of salt. Why salt? Salt is typically used in scripture to represent preservation. It’s as though God is illustrating that Lot’s wife is frozen in time, unable to move forward because her heart is still attached to the past. God was leading her out, but she couldn’t let go. It was just a glance, but that glance showed the division in her heart that would cost her her freedom and her future.
She couldn’t move forward while holding onto the past. Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 both tell us that we can’t serve two masters. A house divided cannot stand just like a heart divided cannot experience true freedom. And it’s impossible to continue on a journey when your heart is being pulled in the opposite direction.
When Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, He severed our ties with our own personal Sodom and Gomorrah. But when we look back at what He rescued us from – a life on the path to destruction – we don’t lose our salvation, but we can definitely get stuck, can’t we? It’s as if our hesitation is freezing us to the spot and we’re unable to continue on our journey.
Another translation of Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross despising the shame. To put it the way a fellow blogger/influencer said it, Jesus didn’t look back at it (the shame) and didn’t preserve it (saving it to rub our noses in it later) – He let it die. Why do we feel the need to look back at what Jesus saved us from? Jesus didn’t just let our past – all the sin and shame – die, but He buried it.
And He’s inviting us to move forward into a relationship of trust and healing. I wrote last week that I’m so thankful that my identity is not compiled of my worst moments. If it was, I would be frozen in place, preserved as a pillar of salt, just like Lot’s wife.
Nowhere in scripture does it tell us that we need to remember all of the things we’ve done wrong. Nowhere. It would be impossible to recount every sinful thought or action. But we are encouraged to forget them and look forward.
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14 NLT
God is so patient with us! He knows and understands the struggle. Let this be a moment where you put the weights down, you turn your face forward, and you learn to move forward in trust. Trust that your shame and condemnation died and is buried. Don’t allow a dead and buried identity to rob you of your peace. Focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward… to the open arms of Jesus.