^ Stopford A. Brooke.
HEBREWS XII. I, 2 465
II.
The Conditions of Successful Eunning.
"Let us . . . lay aside every weight."
1. We are to lay aside every " weight." This term means that which is superfluous, that which exceeds the proper extent or mass of anything ; in the case of a runner, it would refer to unnecessary clothing or undue fleshiness of body. These impede the runner; and as the athlete in the race wears the scantiest clothing, and, if he be in training, keeps his body under, and submits cheerfully to the trainer's rules, denying himself even the little indulgences which other men allow themselves, so here the Christian is exhorted to lay aside every weight, everything that would be a hindrance in running the race set before him. He must not carry an ounce of unnecessary weight. He will need all his spirit, all his vigour, all his dash, all his buoyancy for this enterprise. If he handicaps himself by putting weights in his pockets, or sewing them into his garments, he has no prospect of prominence in the race. He may still, of course, struggle stolidly on, but anything like a brilliant effort will be effectually dis- couraged. Wherefore, first and foremost, let us lay aside every encumbrance.
^ Pleasures, friendships, occupations, habits, may be in them- selves innocent enough, but if they hinder our running well they must be given up. Carlyle once said, " Thou must go without, go without; that is the everlasting song which every hour all our life, though hoarsely, sings to us " ; and those words are true of the Christian life.^
(1) There are certain weights that are a help and not a hindrance to our progress. They impart a certain momentum to the character, and carry a man through obstacles victoriously. There are men who by nature are light-weights, with little chance, in this hard world, of prospering, and God has to steady them with burdens sometimes, if they are to run with patience the race that is set before them.
^ I should not like to travel in a train if I were told that it was light as matchwood. I should not like to put to sea in a
* G. S. Barrett, Musings for Quiet Hours, 57. I THESS.-HKB. — 30
466 THE RACE SET BEFORE US
great steamer if I were informed there was no ballast in her. When there are curves to be taken or storms to be encountered, when the way is beset with obstacles or perils, you need a certain weight to ensure safety, and you need a certain weight to give you speed. I have no doubt that this is the explanation of many of the weights that we must carry. They steady and ballast us ; they give us our momentum as we drive ahead through the tempestuous sea. Life might be lighter and gayer if we lacked them ; but, after all, there are better things than gaiety. It is a real weight to a young man, sometimes, that he has to support an aged relative. There is much that he craves for which he can never get so long as that burden at home is on his shoulders. But has not that burden made a man of him — made him strenu- ous and serious and earnest ? He might have run his race with brilliance otherwise, but he runs it with patience now, and that is better.^
(2) Sometimes the things that we call weights are of the most insignificant and trifling kind. They are like the weights beside a chemist's scales, so tiny as hardly to be visible. What would a thorn turn the scale at ? There would be a good many thousands to the pound. Caught in the fleece of a sheep upon the hills, it would not hinder it from freest movement. But •plunged in the flesh of a great saint like St. Paul, it hampers and retards at every turn, till even the thorn for St. Paul becomes a weight, and drives him in entreaty to the Throne. There are few things sadder in the world than the trifling nature of much that hinders men. There are thousands who would run well if it were not for only one thing between them and freedom. And that is often such a little thing that the pity is that a man should be so near and yet, from the triumph of it all, so far.
2. " The sin which doth so easily beset us " has to be laid aside. There is some doubt as to the exact meaning of the Greek word translated in our Version by " doth so easily beset ns," for it is found only here in the New Testament. It may mean what our translation gives as its rendering, or it may be as the margin of the Eevised Version gives it — sin which " doth closely cling to us," or sin which " is admired of many," popular sin, as it may be called.
Whichever rendering we may take, the lesson is the same. We have not only to put on one side all those weights which,
^ G. H. Morrison, Tlie Wings of tJie Morning, 321.
HEBREWS XII. I, 2 467
sinless in themselves, would hinder our running, but we have also to lay aside every sin, however closely it clings to us, and whatever may be the struggle it costs to free ourselves from it. We cannot run at all if we are cumbered with conscious sin. We cannot turn to God unless we turn away from sin. Coming to Christ always means leaving something behind, and that something always includes sin. Many are not saved, and never begin to run the heavenly race, because they are afraid of this condition, giving up sin. And yet they must make the choice ; they must give up sin, or they will have to give up Christ.