Laying Aside Weight

"...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us..." Hebrews 12:1

Laying Aside Weight

One comical moment came in 2011 after I had just won the Santa Barbara Triathlon for the first time.  I was cleaning up my transition area after the race and I overheard two guys talking as they passed behind me.  The first guy said to his buddy, “That is the kid who won the race.”  Astonish his buddy replied, “But he’s fat.”  I just grinned.  

As an endurance athlete many would never realize that I struggle with my weight.  My struggles with weight are not in the realm of obesity nor are due to self-image but rather unnecessary weight that slows me down from a lack of discipline.  For an triathlete my height, age and level of racing in which I compete, I should be at least 10-15 pounds lighter, I know exactly where it was coming from, cheese-on-everything and  home grown avocados that I like to eat.  

One study had shown that one pound of unused body weight can add two seconds per mile.  In a ten kilometer race, ten to fifteen pounds of unused body weight is the equivalent of adding two to three minutes in a ten kilometer race, astonishing, I know!  My goal this year has been to try to cut down at least ten pounds and make it down to the low one-hundred and sixties.   Five days before leaving for London I weighed in at one-hundred and sixty-two, which is the lightest I can ever remember being.  It has made a huge difference and I have been having incredible track workouts.  I know I am not going to run a sub 30 minute 10k after a bike and a swim but I know I am faster because of the weight I dropped.

For eight years I rode “Old Yeller” a yellow 2002 aluminum framed road bike with aluminum wheels in all of my triathlons.  This year I upgraded to all carbon fiber and an aero helmet.   It was this year at the Ventura Triathlon when I retired Old Yeller from racing, a bitter sweet moment in my life.  I knew my new bike would cut some time, I did not realize it would be three and a half minutes and that I would have the second fastest bike split of the day.  With all the weight dropped there was a price to pay and it came out of my wallet.  Cutting weight and upgrading my equipment has allowed me to “run the race with endurance” more effectively. 

A Spiritual Thought or Two
Laying Aside Hindrances and Sin

As I endeavor to overcome the many discouragements and obstacles in my life I know that perseverance builds character and I am learning key elements that translate over into my spiritual race in which life eternal with God is the prize.  

Being over weight is not a sin and I am not trying to make that parallel.  I understand that genetics play a huge role in our weight.  All of our bodies have a programed body weight which come from our progenitors and this programed body weight is in our genetics, please do not misunderstand me.

There are things that may not be sin “every weight” but are merely hindrances that can keep us from running effectively the race God has for us.  Our choices are not always between right and wrong, but sometimes between something that may hinder us and something that may not.  I know that there is plenty that hinders me from running my spiritual race with endurance.  Then there are sins, sins that easily ensnare all Christians and I am sure it is different for everyone.   Easily ensnares is translated from a difficult ancient Greek word (euperistaton), which can be translated four ways: “easily avoided,” “admired,” “ensnaring,” or “dangerous.”  Some sins can be easily avoided, for what ever reason, they are not.  Some sins are admired, yet must be laid aside. Some sins are ensnaring and thus especially harmful. And some sins are more dangerous than others are.  I am encouraged in Hebrews to lay them all aside.

To often I find myself being ensnared by sin in my spiritual life and doing things that I do not want to do and not doing things that I want to do.  It is so easy to get angry and so hard to return a put down with love.  Why is that?  It is so easy to be selfish and keep blessings for myself rather than share those blessings with others.  Why is that?  It is so easy for me elevate things above God, including myself.  Why is that?  It is so easy to be prideful and stubborn and resist God in my heart.  Why is that?  I am reminded of the Apostle Paul and his struggles when he was inspired to write Romans 7:15-25, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.  So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord ! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”  

I am a sinner saved by God’s grace, His unmerited favor and love, and I await the victory of laying aside the sins that so easily slow me down in my spiritual life.  I understand it is an active involvement by letting God mold and change my heart through the life and work of Jesus Christ.

After dwelling on the verse “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us.”  I think there is a lesson to be experienced soon and many more to come.  I know I have learned an equivalent lesson in a the temporal sense with my training, that cutting weight is important, takes discipline, a lifestyle change and there is a price to pay but the benefit is that I am no long weighed down and hindered.