Is this your first significant challenge of 2018?

I read a headline this morning that quipped, “New year, same issues.”

Is that your first significant challenge of 2018? Are you dragging into the gift of a new year old junk that should now belong to your past?

We philosophize all kinds of things about what a “New Year” supposedly means, but at the least, it is the gift of a fresh stretch of time (for however long the Lord desires to extend it). Why would you want to pollute that by refusing to jettison from your life the sin and failures that pulled it down in the past?

The writer of Hebrews examined that kind of issue from a spiritual perspective, and this is what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us,” Hebrews 12:1.

It would be foolish to attempt to run a race — with an intention to win — while weighted down; it’s also foolish to receive a fresh gift of time and insist on decorating it with pet sins, flawed thinking, bad habits, and anything that weighs us down from that life of faith that God unfolds before us.

The writer of Hebrews immediately followed up his exhortation to us by showing us how we can successfully achieve the instruction given:

“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …” Hebrews 12:2a.

We perpetuate what has been wrong in our lives by dragging it from one year into the next, and that robs us from fully experiencing the best of what God really wants for us. If you’ve dragged a pile of life’s junk into 2018 with you, it’s early enough in the new year to discard it and, by keeping your eyes on Jesus, you can make 2018 a fresh race of faith run free from weights that would only drag you down.

Scotty