God calls us to run the race with endurance and not haste but in order to run at the required pace; we cannot drag the bags. Many of us when we take a trip, we seem to over pack for only a few days which slows us down as we travel. All of us have endured some hardship in life, some more traumatic than others. But God is wanting us to wash away the waste and move at the required pace to carry out his plans and promises he has for our lives. My son runs for his high school track team and he never run with his backpack on with his extra clothes in it. Because the weight of it would slow down his performance. Many of us are dragging bags of the past that slows down our ability to move forward. We have past hurts that keeps us from experiencing the better or greater that God has in store for us. Our disappointments and discouragement have caused us to become discontent. The motivation and focus that once energized us is now a distance smile that God hasn’t seen in a while. We cannot run a good race with all the baggage we carry over from yesterday. We store up too much waste and wonder why are we sick. Jesus warned us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34). We have grown accustomed to taking yesterday’s situations into today’s affairs.
Healing and forgiveness are available through the blood of Jesus. Forgiveness is for you so that your heart doesn’t become overwhelmed with the hardships that we face in life. Un-forgiveness is a weight that will not allow you to be great. Also, disappointments, fears, anxieties, and addictions. It keeps you in bondage to keep another person down. When you dig a hole for someone and watch them fall in, it will stop your growth. Because you have to stop and watch to make sure, they do not climb out. God is a healer. He is the only one that can make “every valley be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rigged places a plain.” (Isaiah 40:4). The Apostle Paul encouraged us to focus on one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. (Philippians 3:13). God is doing a new thing each day if we will make room to consume. But carrying old baggage will make you drag while others who are weightless run on. “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:14). “But he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13).
In life, we will have to remove all those things that weight us down or hold us back from reaching our predestined purpose. God came to set us free by saying give it to me and trust me to handle it. God never intended for us to carry the cares of the world but to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us. Each day you awake think about what are you carrying over from yesterday and make a decision to leave those bags behind. “Do you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24). What are you carrying that’s causing hindrance?
