Untangled…

A few days ago I was walking my 70-ish pound golden retriever, inhaling the beautiful crisp air around me.

Skipping along, I suddenly came to a complete halt.

Bo, my sweet pup, had gotten entangled in his leash and my hands were full with my phone, doggie potty bags, a water bottle and of course his leash.

He kept spinning around like any silly dog and I was trying to untangle the mess.

My hands were so full that I had to finally throw down my phone, my water bottle and those doggie potty bags to be able to unravel this mess of an entanglement.

A few minutes letter the mess was straightened out and I picked my phone, water bottle, and doggie bags back up from the ground.

As I started back on my merry way, being pulled by my sweet pup, I heard this scripture in my heart…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Hebrews 12:1

Whoa.

Ok, God. I hear you.

My sweet Father in Heaven knows that I am a visual learner, and that entanglement with my dog was a very vivid picture of how things can hinder and entangle in our walk with God.

Just a few days before this incident, He had brought to my attention some things in my life that were not necessarily sin, but a hindrance to my faith walk.

In this passage, Paul reminds us that we are surrounded by onlookers—our kids, our spouses, our co-workers, our nieces and nephews, our neighbors—people are always around us watching.

As Christians we have a great responsibility of being a witness for Jesus.

So often, I mess this up.

However, every time, God reveals this mess up to me, and He forgives me, and I get back up, wipe off the dirt and mud, and keep walking.

We cannot stay stuck in our entanglements, but we must be aware of them.

Paul tells us to throw off “hindrances” and “sin”.

Sin is often obvious to us, but hindrances may not be so obvious.

A hindrance may be something that holds us back, that keeps us in place instead of moving us forward in the race of faith.

David Guzak says it like this: “our choices are not always between right and wrong, but between something that may hinder us and something else that may not.”

Honestly, being aware of our hindrances takes much wisdom and prayer.

Something that is a hindrance to me, may not be a hindrance to you at all.

For example, social media.

Social media is not a sin, but it may become a hindrance to us.

Or spending money.

Spending money is not a sin, but it may become a hindrance to us if it entangles us to spend more than we know we should.

Certain relationships may also be a hindrance to our faith walk. We can ask God to open our eyes and give us boldness to step away from those relationships that may not be best for us.

Another hindrance or entanglement may be food or alcohol. What may be fine for some people, may not be fine for others. It may cause entanglements in discipline and hold us back from moving forward in our walk with Jesus.

Books and movies and tv shows. One person may have no problem with these areas, while another may struggle with it and find that it hinders their walk.

Our conversations with others may be a hindrance to our walk. What are we saying? Maybe we are not necessarily sinning, but are our words life giving? We must remember that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, often hanging on our every word. For the good or for the bad.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6

When I was walking my dog, I didn’t realize that my hands were so full. I finally realized that I had to set aside those things I was clutching onto to untangle the mess.

The next part of this scripture is—

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

And this is the goal.

To run with perseverance and purpose.

To fix our wandering eyes on Jesus.

To not grow weary or lose heart.

untangling,

jill