Ok women, please tell me you have had a necklace that became a tangled up, knotted up mess of a thing. Every time you thought you were getting close to untangling the last tangle, a new one appeared, then another, then you were worse off than when you started.
Frustrating. A mess. A beautiful, cherished, mess.
This life.
A beautiful, chaotic, cherished mess of an existence.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) "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. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 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.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
It's that sin. It entangles us. Ensnares us. It knots us up and when we think we have victory another knot appears. Then we get all tangled up again. How true. How very accurate, we are a sinful mess. Isn't that exactly what sin does to us, makes a knotted up mess of us.
Jesus calls us to throw that sin off and run with perseverance. Keep going, keep untangling, unwinding the mess we have made of ourselves. Placing our focus on Jesus and knowing what He endured that we might have a hope to overcome and not lose heart.
That's the hard part, right? Moving forward, running when you feel like you have nothing left to give. I hate running. Hate it, its boring, tiring and I feel like I can't breathe the entire time. That's not fun. That's not enjoyable, that doesn't seem like life.
That's why we focus on Jesus. Why we put our hope in Him. When you run you are supposed to focus on something other than the excruciating pain and inability to take a normal breath. You are supposed to listen to music, distract yourself from the negative and focus on the positive. Focus on why you are running, for the benefit of it all, not the pain of it all. For the joy set before us.
We will always be knotted up messes until Jesus makes us whole and right. The great untangler of our sin. Until then we keep going, keep running the beautiful chaotic race of life, with our shorts around our ankles and our heads held high. Because a great joy awaits us, even in this life. Every triumph over sin, every good gift that God gives us to keep us going, to keep us moving. Every little glimmer of hope. The smallest things, like a yellow leaf on a dreary day. The biggest things, our child's first words, first steps, first anything. Those joys keep us going. They give us the strength to endure the knotted up mess that sin creates.
No comments:
Post a Comment