By Steven Temple

Guest Columnist

 

This past week I had to take a heavy piece of equipment from one plant to another for work. I loaded it in my own personal truck to drive down. On this 4 hour trip through the mountains I could definitely tell my truck wasn’t operating like it normally does. It was a little heavier and less maneuverable. That is when this thought began to run through my mind.

As I traveled those hills and curves that I had encountered many times before during this same route seemed to be a little more challenging. The weight on my truck affected the performance. I had to drive more cautiously. I had to brake a little earlier than I would if it were not there. I could not pull out as quickly as I had before. The drag was different as I wasn’t as aerodynamic with this weighing me down as well as standing higher than my cab. I could tell I wasn’t at top performance and could see the fuel gauge drop quicker than normal.

As I thought about this, the scripture from Hebrews 12 ran through my mind. Hebrews 12:1 says, “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,”. Let us lay aside every weight. That is what stuck in my mind.

Just like my truck, with the added weight, did not perform as well, we, too, with all of the baggage of life can not perform the way we need to. We can not expect to run the fastest we can if we are trying to carry so many different things along with us on the course. Imagine trying to run a 100 yard dash in world record time while you are also trying to carry a 50 pound bag of potatoes. You will never break a record if you are not performing at your highest potential.

Spiritually, we also have things that we are hanging onto that are dragging us down. So many things that we have attached to us that are keeping us from performing our best. We are missing out on grabbing ahold of great things because our hands are full with things that do not matter. We can not move on to joy while hanging on to anger. We can not achieve peace if we are dragging unforgiveness with us.

We need to unload our trunks. Many of our vehicles have things in them that we have forgotten about. We loaded it in there at one point in the past and have failed to remember to take it out. It is still there. Weighing the car down and yet we neglect to simply remove it. Many times it goes unnoticed until there is a problem and we realize we have to move it in order to get to what we need.

This is the same way we deal with things in our spiritual lives. We will allow things to attach to us or end up in our spiritual trunk. We know it is there but we fail to remove it and carry it around all of our lives. We will carry it until the time comes that we realize it is holding us down. When we are seeking for something greater we are taken by surprise that we don’t have room because of what we already have weighing us down.

Don’t wait until you are on the side of the road with a flat needing to access the trunk before you clear out what you don’t need or what is in your way. It is time to unload your trunk. This isn’t about a car. This isn’t about a truck bed full of things. This is about you, your spirit, your spiritual well-being. You don’t have room for the good things of God because so many other things are already entertaining you. Unload your trunk today.

 

Pastor Steven Temple is the Pastor of The Church On The Hill in Rose Hill, Virginia. Pastor Steven can be reached by email at pastor.steven.temple@gmail.com