Y’all. There is so much I learned at kamp and so much I want to share with each of you. God did a mighty work in me at that little town called Lampe, MO and I want that mighty work not to be just a flame that is easily blown out, but a fire that reignites my whole soul for Jesus! Kanakuk was amazing, but not because of the name or the games or even the incredible people. Kanakuk was amazing simply because GOD is amazing and He was displayed so well and so continuously that you could not miss Him!! He is so present in that place and that is what makes Kanakuk THE Christian Kamp to attend. And I have decided that I want to experience God EVERYDAY the way I did at kamp. He is ever-present in my daily life, I am just so quick to run right past Him and put other things in front of him that block my view, which brings me to this post.

I want to share with you a verse that was a focal point during my time at Kanakuk and is still a verse I strive to follow as I have returned to the daily summer life of a college student:

“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.” (Hebrews 12:1-2, NIV)

Now did you catch what it said? (I bolded it for you just in case you weren’t paying attention :)). It said to throw off NOT JUST SIN, but everything that hinders you. That key word ‘everything’ can be kind of overwhelming, but it is so central to a growing reliance and relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, you may ask, how do I know what is hindering me? Well, you have to know what you are removing these hinderances for. What purpose is my sin and “everything that hinders” keeping me from? The answer, lucky for us, is right in Scripture!! Check it out! It says “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus.” So, a hinderance, in this context, is anything that is keeping you from running the race of faith; anything that is keeping you from fixing your eyes on Jesus.

But before we can remove those hinderances, we have to recognize them. And it takes an honest, prayerful look at your own life to see that there is a lot of societal gunk that has clogged your vision from God. Let me give you a couple personal examples: The first hinderance I recognized was the comparison I experience with social media. Social media, although it of itself is not bad, brings a lot of grief and weight to a lot of people. The tendency is to open that app and immediately compare your day to that friend whose life is supposedly perfect. I realized that instead of daily comparing my life to Christ’s I was busy comparing what I had and what I was doing and what I look like to every other imperfect person. When you take a step back, it is honestly quite silly. I mean, if I want to be better, why don’t I just look to the Perfect Creator of the Universe rather than the sinful creation? One way I have chosen to throw off this hinderance, is by starting my day in prayer and conversation with God rather than with my phone. This way, my focus is immediately placed on the Lord instead of the world. A second way, is to spend my free time reading God’s Word or a chosen Christian book (currently reading John Piper’s The Pleasures of God) instead of scrolling through the feeds online.

Colossians 3:2 says “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.”

Next, I realized that the music I listen to was not uplifting to myself or to my Heavenly Father. And I am not even remotely talking about explicit music. Rather, my go-to tunes are your everyday pop, secular artists. They have fun songs, good bops, a nice bass, however you’d like to describe it. HOWEVER, they also have an unimaginable focus on appearances, sex, and other fleeting topics. In Philippians, Paul reminds us to think about “anything that is excellent or praiseworthy”  (Phil. 4:8). How can I expect my mind to be thinking about excellent, true, PURE, lovely things if I am constantly filling it with society’s distractions? One way I am choosing to toss this hinderance aside is by making the active choice to play uplifting music in my car (whether that is Christian music or Kanakuk dance party music :))

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Let me put it to you (as an athlete would) in the picture of preparing for a race, as is the metaphor in Hebrews. When I am preparing for a track meet, and my coach tells me to come to practice, I come. There are no questions asked and it would be an obvious mistake if I did not show up to practice to prepare for the race. Everyone agrees on this point, as it would be a “sin” not to go. Well, as I am sure all of you know, there is a lot more that goes into running than just practice. You have to throw off hinderances. For instance, if you eat a chocolate cake before a race, you will feel it when you run and it will be much harder to finish strong. The cake itself is not bad, but it is holding you back from running full speed, so you avoid it. Another example would be the tendency to stay up late every night. If I choose to stay up late and am not well rested for the meet, my lack of sleep will hinder me in the race.

This same mindset is applicable to life. If your actions are not furthering you in your walk with God, if they are not helping you fix your eyes on Jesus, if they are not assisting you in the race of faith, why are you so insistent on keeping them in your lives?
And I am preaching to myself as well!
In the end, it will be me standing before a Holy God. And I know when I stand before Him face to face, I will wish that I had done more to put Him first in my life, because He is the only one that deserves that spotlight anyways. So why not start making that change now?

So, I’ll ask you again, What is hindering you in this race of faith? And are you ready to throw it off and make a change for the glory of God the Father? Because “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8) and if you are not making offensive strides toward the finish line, your defense will not be strong enough to combat the things of this world.