“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.
I have seen a lot of signs at races. Signs displayed by spectators motivate runners, they entertain us, and make the miles go by faster.
One of the race signs I have seen several times contains the last sentence of the verse from Hebrews above, “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
It’s the first part of the verse, however, that tells us exactly how to run with endurance. We need to let go of sin. Sin weights us down, trips us up, makes our legs and our heart heavy.
Theologians as disparate as Paul Tillich and Alister McGrath have described sin as separation or estrangement from ourselves, from each other, and from God.
Overcoming this estrangement is not possible to achieve by hard work, mental discipline, or perseverance. It is only possible through grace. Yes, grace allows us to throw off the weights and run free and with endurance.
There is a lot of sin in this world, alienation is rampant and detachment abounds. But there is more grace. Grace is everywhere. A profusion of grace, lavishly showered down on us every second of each day.
Grace enough to make us light, to allow us to run our races, to be free. What can we accomplish once we accept this grace? What is slowing us down today?
I am linking with Welcome Heart for Let’s Have Coffee, Debbie at Dare 2 Hear, Amy at Live Life Well, Raisie Bay for Word of the Week, Susan B Mead for Dancing With Jesus, Embracing the Unexpected for Grace and Truth, Random-osity for Little Things Thursdays, Reflections From Me for A Blogging Good Time, Knit by God’s Hand for Thankful Thursdays, Morgan’s Milieu for Post, Comment, Love, Counting My Blessings for Faith ‘n Friends, and Worth Beyond Rubies.
Please click on the following link to read more funny or inspirational one-liners. One-Liner Wednesday.
Meditations in Motion 
Hopefully grace prevails in our days and never weighs down our hearts or makes us go forward with lead feet. P.S. – I also like the inspiration along the way as there is more of a feeling of camaraderie.
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Yes, I like the inspiration along the way too! I try every day to see the grace. Some days I am more successful than others!
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Some days it is just plain difficult – I see what is going on in the world and it really overwhelms me sometimes to be honest.
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I depend on reading positive, fun, uplifting blogs like yours and interacting with interesting people like you! 🙂
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Thank you Laurie – that made my day. I have had an ugly day weatherwise and computer wise. I am waiting on a personal visit from the computer guy who does not understand why I am “banned” or “blacklisted” from our site and after 3 hours yesterday said he must come here personally (and to deliver the new laptop). It is a torrential rain right now. My boss who is leaving for a week-long trip on Sunday is beside himself. So, this nice comment made my day. Turning on the news anymore is a real “downer” – you need to know what’s going on, but every day seems a little sadder and stranger.
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I am hoping that by the time you read this, you are not “banned” anymore.
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I am okay now – Comcast had an outage reported, but the computer tech and I believe they were doing maintenance … I am sure I wasn’t the only one to have that issue. That has never happened before and it was poorly timed due to my boss leaving early Sunday morning for a long-scheduled business trip and side trip to New Mexico (they have a little village near Albuquerque which is all art galleries … he likes abstract art and went back to look for some unusual items).
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Sin, evil, error, separation, however it’s termed — it brings us so much pain because in our depths we know it’s the exception, the disruption, of the rule, which is grace, love, and light.
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Yes, thankfully it is the exception. We are the recipients of grace upon grace and yet, I struggle some days to see it.
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Laurie, this sentence will be in my thoughts today >> “Grace enough to make us light, to allow us to run our races, to be free.” His grace will help us run our race each and every day. Thank you!
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So glad you enjoyed it, Joanne. Thank you!
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Those are some amazing signs! Race spectators are so creative!
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They ARE so creative…and entertaining!
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Well done for persevering. x
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Thank you!
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Every day in this heat…I am walking with grace to get home instead of melting in a puddle of sweat!!!
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Haha! Love it! 🙂
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One of my favorite verses. I love anything that talks about pressing on, running & finding strength, endurance… the perfect description of life.
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Yes, it does give good encouragement. I love the verse too!
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Hebrews 12:1 is one of my favorite verses. Perseverance is a word that continues to speak to me and lead me forward.
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One of my favorites too. I think we retired teachers needed perseverance in our former jobs or we never would have been able to stay with it! 🙂
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I’m so thankful for grace. I can’t imagine a day without it.
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Thank goodness you don’t have to! 🙂
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I loved those signs!! 🙂
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They keep races interesting!
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It’s lovely that people take the time to make the banners to encourage the runners, that’s such a sweet thing to do. I can’t run but I guess I could make an encouraging banner for the next race I hear of in my area.
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Oh, yes. I appreciate them so much. It gives my brain something to do other than try to figure out how much farther I have to run! 🙂
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I love reading the banners at sporting events, some are very well thought out #pocolo
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Yes, some are very clever!
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Those signs are brilliant. they did make me chuckle.
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They are fun to read during a race!
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Those are such funny signs; I can see how they would motivate and entertain you as you run.
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I enjoy reading them at races. They make the miles go by…
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His “grace” is just so thought provoking, isn’t it…our sin separates us from Him & yet He loves us so much… That He paid the price for our sin!
When you sit & reflect upon this… it’s truly mind blowing!
Great post Laurie.
Bless you,
Jennifer
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You are exactly right, Jennifer – it’s mind-blowing! As a human, I can’t begin to understand. Blessings to you, too.
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There are days when things don’t work run so smoothly but when we do take a moment to look up and out it’s amazing what we can see, and take in! Enjoyed that Laurie
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Glad you enjoyed it Enda!
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I’m laughing so much at the signs. I need to up my game and put my creative hat on for my husband’s next race. I’ll be musing all day about how grace lightens our lives. #wotw
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I can’t wait to read the signs you come up with. Send a photo if you can! 🙂
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I love those banners, and that people have put thought into them, to encourage others. I also love how it has made you think x
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Those signs help keep a race interesting. some are inspirational and some are funny.
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I like those different banners. I can see how that verse would be a popular one to use on banners. Our own personal races can certainly feel hard work and heavy at times and accepting that grace is not always easy to do even when we know it will make the race easier to run. #WotW
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So true. The grace is there – but we must give ourselves permission to accept it.
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I love this verse! And I love the part about how sin weighs us down, so very true, but sometimes very hard to see. I am so very thankful for the big and wonderful shoulders of our Father who has endless grace! Thank goodness! I need plenty of it!
Blessings and thanks for linking up @LiveLifeWell!
Amy
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The verse is one of my favorites (for obvious reasons!) Blessings to you, Amy and thank you for the chance to share!
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It is so true Sin weighs us down and makes our hearts heavy, the different signs are great! Thank you for this post I enjoyed it and thank you for linking it up with #ABloggingGoodTime
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Yes, sin does weigh us down. Thank you for the chance to share!
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I like that the signs are so motivational for the runners. I don’t run but I imagine it really helps get most runners through the finish line. #ABloggingGoodTime
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It definitely does help!
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