Verse of the Day for January 26

The chapter before this is the long list of people who lived by faith and mostly did not receive what was promised. Chapter twelve begins by putting the reader inside the same race.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience.

Two things are laid aside and they are not the same thing. There is sin, and there is weight — and weight is not described as sinful. It is described as heavy.

A runner strips off what is merely extra. Not wicked, not shameful. Extra. Commitments, possessions, arguments, subscriptions to other people's opinions of you.

And then, having stripped, run with patience — a phrase that sounds contradictory until you notice the race is described as the one set before us, not the one we would have chosen.

Some of what is slowing you down this year is not wrong. It is simply extra, and it is still slowing you down.

Name one weight. Put it down. It does not have to be a sin to be laid aside.