The Components of ‘Encumbrances’

The writer to the letter to the Hebrews says: “….let us also lay aside every encumbrance [or weight] and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” [Hebrews 12:1-2].

In the legal world, an “encumbrance” is something that attaches to the title of a piece of property such as a mortgage, a court judgment, or a materialman’s lien. Each of these “encumbrances” hinders the sale or transfer of the title to the property until the encumbrance is dealt with and removed.

The Greek word in the above passage translated by the English word encumbrance, means a weight, or burden, i.e. something that is weighing down the runner, hindering him/her from pressing forward in the race. Imagine an Olympic athlete trying to sprint in a race wearing heavy clothing, an overcoat, and carrying an 50 pound backpack. All watching the race, spectators, coaches, and teammates, would wonder if the runner had lost his mind. You don’t have to be a runner yourself to know that something is seriously wrong with this athlete and he/she is highly unlikely to win that race. “…lay aside every weight…” i.e. remove, discard, release ourselves from every weight that hinders our ability to win an all-out race. The writer does not refer to those encumbrances as sins [though he also says to lay sins aside], but he calls them weights or burdens, depending on the translation one is reading. Sometimes certain kinds of weights can actually be useful, e.g. the ballast in the bottom of a ship helps provide some stability especially in a storm. In that sense, God is our “ballast”. He provides the stability to our lives in the midst of the storm. But for a runner, unless he is carrying/wearing weights for the purpose of strength training his muscles, when it comes time to actually run a real race, he had better dispose of those weights and “lay them aside”.

Paul says: “All things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but I will not be mastered by anything” [I Cor 6:12]. Paul is acknowledging that some life choices are not evil or sinful, BUT some of those same activities might turn out to be a weight, or a hindrance to Paul’s effort to win his God-assigned race that he is called to run. He will not allow himself to become “mastered” i.e. enslaved by any of those life choices he is free to choose to do. Perhaps it would be “lawful” for an Olympian to run his/her assigned or chosen race wearing an overcoat, baggy sweat pants and loaded backpack, but surely, doing so, would be viewed by all observers, and especially the coach, as a fruitless, and a doomed effort. That runner would be running “in vain”. God is “coaching” us via this passage in Hebrews and we best listen to our coach.

What are some examples of “lawful” but perhaps unprofitable “weights” we believers sometimes carry with us that may hinder us as we run the race of life? The world provides many distractions that can easily consume our energy and time-e.g. TV, movies, smart phones, social media, news media, sports, [including observing or participating], exercise, hobbies of various kinds, etc. Use or participation of any one or more of these activities may not be sinful of course, but excessive involvement may turn out to be “unprofitable” i.e. not beneficial to our spiritual training, conditioning, and discipline thus sucking excessive time and energy from us.

As you evaluate your own life and use of your time, do you see any excesses? Has any of your normally healthy diversions become distractions which have morphed into encumbrances or weights that are hindering or slowing down your zeal in running your race to pursue Christ and know Him more deeply? Will you consider a ‘purge’ of some of your activities and time consumers that, in reality are unprofitable to your spiritual life? It takes courage to purge. Will you do it?