Click here to listen to this post!

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 12:1a, NIV)

Prior to reading this scripture, I had watched one of those —this is my term— “Aw-w-w” YouTube clips sent by a CCC friend— (Thank you, Susan!)—that featured a gosling entangled in a balloon string. (Which, thanks to wise mother goose’s persistence, was eventually untangled by a caring policewoman.)

That entangled gosling’s progress was obviously hindered. It could do nothing to free itself.

We were once in that kind of dilemma regarding sin. We were entangled in it, hindered from freeing ourselves. But then came Jesus. So now we are free from sin. Aren’t we?

Yes, we are free—just as that little gosling was free to run to its mother and swim away, again living according to its God-given design. Yes, freedom from sin and living according to our God-given design is now reality for us.

Sin, though, is wily. In Genesis 4:7 God warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door and that he must master it. All these centuries later sin hasn’t changed its colors. So even though it is true that we are free from sin because we are forgiven, it is also true that we remain susceptible to sinning. We are still liable to wander and get tangled in the string of sin.

Hebrews 12:1 in The New Living Translation refers to our need to “…strip off every weight that slows us down…” The NIV translates that “…throw off everything that hinders.”

I believe those weights that slow us down, that hinder, could be burdens we pile on ourselves. In my case I pile on things I decide I should, must, ought to be doing. Others may pile on the weight of perfectionism. Still others may pile on guilt—even though Jesus already lifted it from us.  

Therefore, the author of Hebrews—as well as every wise parent, teacher and counselor through the years—gives us the advice God gave Cain: Master It. In chapter 11 he listed examples of those who hung on to their faith in God. By their allegiance to their Master, they mastered the sin which would have entangled them and the self-imposed weights that would have hindered their progress. 

Sit quietly with God and ask Him to show you a sin that is entangling you. Give yourself time for this. If you aren’t ready to hand it over to Him just yet, you may begin to master it by asking Him to change your heart concerning it. 

Ask God to help you see any weights you are putting on yourself. Again, give yourself time for this. Ask for His help to face them and for His guidance as you seek to throw them off.

None of us is alone in our need to master sins that entangle and weights that slow us down. Let’s pray for all our CCC family to become untangled and unhindered so each may live in the way God uniquely designed. Then let’s pray we will humbly help others become untangled and unhindered as they walk in faith.