Encumbrances

I had hoped to post something over the weekend, but life quickly got out of control for me, and nothing got posted!
For those of you who aren't reading in the Holman Chronological Bible, but are using the reading schedule I sent you, every 7th day is a 'summary' - the first one being Saturday, Jan 7. This is a day to reflect on what you read the previous 6 days and prayerfully seek God's face in what He want you to apply to your life from your time in His Word.

I have just finished up Pam Gillaspie's (free!) online study called Ignite - excellent study, and her video posts are still available through vimeo.com if you have interest in checking it out.
Anyway, as we finished the study which was about the when, where, why, what, who, and how of being in God's Word, Pam's last session (on how to be in God's Word) included Hebrews 12:1-2.

The 'how' of being in God's Word on a regular, consistent basis includes laying aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. It includes running with endurance - not giving up!! It includes fixing our eyes on Jesus - and keeping them there, not letting them drift to the many distractions of life.

So back to encumbrances and sin which so easily entangles us....
I think most of us, if we are walking with Christ, know when sin is present in our lives. The Holy Spirit is faithful to let us know about it - then we have a choice to ignore Him or deal with the sin.

Encumbrances are a little more tricky!! They are not necessarily bad things or sin. They can be good things in our life which are out of balance or are being given more priority in our time than they should be given.
This has been very challenging for me to 'chew over' the past week - and especially over the weekend as it became apparent to me that several things in my life are out of balance. On Sunday I spent time in God's presence asking Him to show me how to take control of my time and get Him back as the center point. Now I know part of this is due to the Holidays and schedules getting wacky because of family being home and more guests being over, so I don't want to be too hard on myself. But a big part of it is wrong priorities and things in my life that have no eternal value. So those are things that I need to prayerfully take a long, hard look at and either remove from my life or get into the right place in my priorities and time schedule.

Why am I posting this? Because I know I'm not the only one who struggles with enough time in the day, priorities, juggling family, work, friends, etc. There are millions of things screaming for out attention each day, but we need to examine our lives, our schedules, our use of money, etc and make sure God is at the center of it all. If we don't do this on a regular basis, God will get pushed aside for the 'tyranny of the urgent', time in His Word will get pushed aside and we will end up being part of the 93% of people who claim to be Christians, yet don't spend time in God's Word on a regular basis. (statistic from Brian Hardy, creator of Daily Audio Bible).

So while we are new into 2012, let me encourage and challenge you to ask God what encumbrances exist in your life - make a list and keep in close by. Then begin the hard work of removing the encumbrances, or getting them into their proper priority place. Run with endurance!  Fix your eyes on Jesus!

And feel free to ask me from time to time how I'm doing with encumbrances! I covet your accountability!