Throw It Off

Yesterday afternoon, Cameron and I had the opportunity to play a little disc golf. We are playing in a tournament this Saturday down in St. Augustine and we both wanted to get a little practice in. As we were walking, Cameron nearly stepped on a glass lizard. Many people will mistakenly call these beautiful creatures a snake, but they are actually legless lizards. This one was a little over two feet in length and was quickly making its way through the grass. I decided to try and catch it, but was having difficulty catching up to it. I gave up and was walking away when Cameron noticed it had reached some pavement. It seemed to be having difficulty moving across that surface and I thought I now had a chance to grab it. It started moving again, trying to get away from me, but did not have success. I was able to grab the end of it and held it up. I decided to put it down on the other side of the pavement so it would not be in danger of being too exposed. Just before I reached the other side, it dropped to the ground and I was left holding just the last few inches of its tail. I had forgotten that as a lizard, it could throw off its tail to get away from danger, and that is exactly what it did. I should have grabbed it more in the middle to avoid that from happening. But, it left basically unharmed and it will grow another tail and regain its full length soon enough.

My holding onto the tail of that glass lizard was hindering it from its freedom and getting to where it wanted to go. Its’ natural instinct was to throw off its tail that I was holding so it could be free. That reminds me of a verse. Hebrews 12:1-2a says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” The writer of Hebrews encourages us to not let sin and the things of this world hold us down and keep us from living our lives for Jesus. Those things get in the way of our relationship with God and only hinder us from the true joy in life which is serving our Savior. Jesus is our greatest example of faithfully serving the Lord without sin and the things of the world weighing us down. The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:7-9a, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.” Our goal in life is not to try and gain everything this world has to offer or simply seek pleasure for ourselves. All that the world has to offer, and all that sin has to offer is “garbage” and we must cast it aside. Then we can focus on Jesus and serve Him without anything tripping us or holding us back.

Let the Holy Spirit search your heart and inspect your life. If there is anything that is keeping you from the Lord, anything that is weighing you down, anything that is entangling your feet, throw it off. Get rid of the sin in your life and the worries of this world and fix your eyes on Jesus.

Bro. Paul Reed

Tuesday, May 24, 2022