Rev. A.J. Ogden

While serving in combat duty in World War II, we often had to beat a hasty retreat (run for your life) and sometimes we had the enemy on the run which also meant we ran in the advance. But one thing I had learned, even in basic training, you cannot run fast or long if you are carrying a heavy load. In some cases you have to throw away some of your belongings to make your load lighter. Many times I threw away things I really needed, but could do without, so I could run faster.

In our spiritual lives we are sometimes weighted down with unnecessary things that slow our service and hinder a race. The writer of Hebrews 12:1-2 said, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Bible says that there are a great number of people watching us run the race of life. If we falter, if we fail, if we run a poor race for all the onlookers, they could stumble. We constantly set a good example for those who are watching, or we set a poor example. We are either a stepping stone for the ones who follow our lives, or we are a stumbling block. Which are you?