OUT OF STEP - OUT OF SHAPE -- Devotional for November 2, from "Good Seeds"

Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

A man attending a weight loss clinic along with a bunch of women followed the regimen of diet and exercise better than all of them, and in record time he achieved his goal weight. When he was called to the front to receive recognition for his accomplishment, he dragged a heavy suitcase behind him. Without a word he lifted and opened it to show that it was full of rocks. Then he spoke: “Folks, these 40 pounds of rocks represent the forty pounds of fat I carried into this room when I joined the group six months ago. And I carried them back out with me, too, and to and fro, wherever I went! I wish I could say it was as easy to drop them as it is to drop these” – and with that was heard a loud thud as that valise full of rocks hit the floor!” He continued, “Thanks for the award, but there’s no better reward than to lay aside, hopefully for good, these unnecessary and ugly extra pounds I’ve been toting around with me for way too long!” Then, picking up the suitcase again, he opened the door and tossed those rocks into the parking lot. With a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye, he returned to his seat. As wonderful as he felt that day, it could never match the ecstasy you and I experience each time we rid ourselves of one more sin or habit that has encumbered us since time immemorial. The first act of American retaliation against the Japanese following their bombing of Pearl Harbor was Doolittle’s air attack over Tokyo. The problem was the vast distance the bombers had to travel. The only answer was to strip from them every extra pound of equipment, supplies, and artillery, and then see if they could take off from an aircraft carrier. Sixteen planes, weighed down only with crew, fuel, and bombs, successfully took off, covered the distance, dropped their payloads, and floated on fumes to the China coast for rice field landings. Those brave pilots lived to tell the tale not for the ingenuity of their strategy, or even their strength of character, but because they were able to lighten their load, laying aside the encumbrances that would have surely spelled failure to the mission. What about you and me? What battles are we right now losing? What potential missions for Jesus have doom written all over them because of our sinful habits or flabby condition? And what losses to the kingdom of God are being sustained because not only are we out of step – we’re out of shape? “No soldier in active service entangles himself with the affairs of life,” we read in I Timothy 2:4. Maybe it’s time you and I got ourselves untangled and unencumbered. There’s no better time to start than right now!