t) OUR WALK on the narrow way or running our race set before us by the Father may be hampered or altogether prevented by two things: WEIGHTS that we carry and SINS that we commit. (Heb. 12:1) Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith enables us to receive from Him the necessary faith-light about both our weights and our sins (Heb. 12:2a) and how to lay them aside.
In the past we may have believed that it is only our sins that stand in our way to our spiritual maturing and perfection, to our true knowledge of the Son of God and of our fellowship with Him. Therefore, we were guided by 1Jn. 1:9 where the Word tells us that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This Word is true, yet our limited understanding, or rather misunderstanding, of what sin is and what weight is could still stand in our way and keep us rather efficiently from knowing the Lord as a Person, have a truly spiritual fellowship with Him and also minister Him to others. Therefore, it is important for us to see and understand that the above Word (1Jn. 1:9)is preceded by verses 1–8 which are no less true and no less important for all of us!
If we would only consider another Word of God which says “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin”, (Rom. 14:23b) we would appreciate the Word in 1Jn. 1:8 much more and understand it much better. If we would consider yet another Word of God which says “the thought of foolishness is sin”, (Prov. 24:9) we should start realizing that we may be sinning daily and have no conscience of it!
The same applies to our weights. We may carry them being completely unaware what we are carrying with us and that they are standing between Our Lord and ourselves. During my entire life, I have never seen any athlete running a race carrying heavy suitcases in his hands and having hope to come to the finish line. Yet, that is what we, believers, are doing and are not aware of it. So, what are some of the weights that we carry with us? How do we recognize them and lay them aside?
We will turn for help to another Word of God, namely, Jam. 1:14,15 where we are told “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when the lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.”
What does this Word mean to us? We all are tempted and we all have lusts in our souls which are capable to draw us away and bring us into sin. Now, neither temptation nor the existence of lusts in our soul is sin! Even being drawn away by our lusts is not sin as yet, but sin lies ahead. So…
THE VARIOUS LUSTS IN OUR SOUL ARE THE WEIGHTS THAT WE CARRY AND WHICH MAY TURN INTO SINS ANY TIME! OUR WEIGHTS-LUSTS ARE NOT SINS, BUT THEY LEAD US INTO SINS.
The question that we ought to ask ourselves is: Are we aware of our weights? And: Are we aware when they turn into sins? I believe that we may know the answer partially and inadequately. We know and recognize the most natural and common weights-lusts of our bodies and souls and there is no need to bring them into an additional light. But there are probably many lusts, which we may not be aware of or consider them as weights standing in our way which way was set before us by the Lord. If they slow down a believer in his maturing process it is not good, but it may not be so tragic. If they stop believers from moving ahead or even reverse their progress… that is tragic. If they stop the leaders that preach, teach and influence thousands or millions of believers around the world or even reverse their spiritual growth that is a great tragedy in the Church and a great loss to the Lord. We will therefore concentrate on some of these weights-lusts which affect our ministry. It goes without saying that they also affect the life of all individual believers whether they minister or not.
First, what is a weight-lust? It is a power in us which has a potential to draw us to do something unrighteous, foolish, immoral, unjust, dangerous or damaging to others or to ourselves, or something unnecessary wasting time and energy, something that may be evil in itself or may not be evil at all. It may also draw us into extremes of something which in itself may be normal and good even necessary such as eating food. But we may end up either in anorexia or in gluttony both being extremes to something normal, but now being damaging to our health.
We cannot control our weights-lusts permanently or efficiently by our own power of strong will, we need to be delivered from them by the Power of Christ. Yet, we may not always want His deliverance or ask for it because we either love our particular lust or we may not be aware that what moves us or controls us is a (deep seated) lust.
We may see and understand the lust of gluttony or drunkenness or laziness or adultery or idolatry or any other common lusts, but we may not see or be aware that, for example, our stubbornness is a lust. When we hold to our own knowledge or opinions or convictions or beliefs as a pit-bull holds a bone in his teeth, then we have a great lust and a great weight that we carry on our way. Also, our own understanding and our image may very easily become our very own idol; it may easily grow, for example, if we build a large ministry, a mega-church or if we start preaching on TV or become a “very important person”. Our “work for the Lord” may also become our idol and a weight that stops us from walking and growing and maturing in spirit.
For “ordinary” believers, their pastor or evangelist or miracle worker or other “famous and successful” religious personality may easily become their idol and they will follow him (or her?) blindly and go backwards rather than forward. Do we present such “idols” before the Lord and ask Him for His Judgment? NO! Why not? Because we do not present even ourselves before the Lord and ask Him for His Judgment of our own selves! Then we become like unto an athlete that would try to run a marathon pulling a loaded van behind him. Are you aware what weight you are carrying?
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To be continued next week in chapter 5 – part 16
brother Hanola
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