WE MUST RUN FREE OF WEIGHTS. This speed can only be maintained when we run unencumbered and free. Now, of course we would all admit the necessity of divesting ourselves of sins; but in all our lives there are weights, which are not sins. A sin is that which in its very nature, and always, and by whomsoever perpetrated, is a transgression of God's law, a violation of God's will. But a weight is something, which in itself or to another may be harmless, or even legitimate, but in our own case is a hindrance and an impediment.

Every believer must be left to decide what is his own special weight. We may not judge for one another. What is a weight to one is not so to all. But the Holy Spirit, if he be consulted and asked to reveal the hindrance to the earnestness and speed of the soul's progress in divine things, will not fail to indicate it swiftly and infallibly. And this is the excellence of the Holy Spirit's teaching: it is ever definite. If we have a general undefined feeling of discouragement, it is probably the work of the great enemy of souls; but if we're aware of some one hindrance and encumbrance, which stays our speed, it is almost certainly the work of the divine Spirit, who is leading us to relinquish something, which is slackening our progress in the spiritual life.

No man would think of maintaining a high speed encompassed with weights. The lads who run for a prize litter the course with garments flung away in their eager haste. There would be little difficulty in maintaining an intense and ardent spirit if we were more faithful in dealing with the habits and indulgences, which cling around us and impede our steps. Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels. They haven't sunk; but they are so saturated with inconsistencies and worldliness and permitted evil that they can only be towed with difficulty into the celestial port(?). Let's check, is there anything in our life, which dissipates our energy from holy things, which disinclines us to the practice of prayer and Bible study, which rises before us in our best moments, and produces in us a general sense of uneasiness and disturbance? something, which others account harmless, and permit, and in which we once saw no cause for anxiety, but which we now look on with a feeling of self-condemnation? It's likely enough a weight!

Is there anything within the circle of our consciousness concerning which we have to argue with ourself, or which we do not care to investigate, treating it as a bankrupt treats his books into which he has no desire to enter, or as a votary of pleasure treats the first symptoms of decaying vitality, which he seeks to conceal from himself? We so often allow in ourselves things, which we would be the first to condemn in others. We frequently find ourselves engaged in discovering ingenious reasons wily a certain course, which would be wrong in others, is justifiable in ourselves. All such things may be considered as weights. It may be a friendship, which is too engrossing; a habit which is sapping away our energy as the tap-root the fruit bearing powers of a tree; a pursuit, an amusement, a pastime, a system of reading, a method of spending time, too fascinating and too absorbing, and therefore harmful to the soul, which is tempted to walk when it should run, and to loiter when it should haste.

But, one may ask, Is it not a sign of weakness, and will it not tend to weakness, always to be relinquishing these and similar things? Surely, one may cry, the life will become impoverished and barren when it is stripped in this way of its precious things. Not so! It is impossible to renounce anything at the bidding of the inner life without adding immensely to its strength; for it grows by surrender, and waxes strong by sacrifice. And for every unworthy object, which is forsaken there follows an immediate enrichment of the spirit, which is the sufficient and unvarying compensation. The athlete gladly foregoes much that other men value, and which is pleasant to himself, because his mind is intent on the prize; and he considers that he will be amply repaid for all the hardships of training, if he be permitted to bear it away, though it be a belt he will never wear, or a cup he will never use. How much more gladly should we be prepared to relinquish all that hinders our attainment, not of the uncertain bauble of the athlete, but the certain reward, the incorruptible crown, the smile and "well-done" of our Lord!

There's an old Dutch picture of a little child dropping a cherished toy from its hands; and, at first sight, its action seems unintelligible, until, at the corner of the picture, the eye is attracted to a white dove winging its flight toward the emptied outstretched hands. Similarly we are prepared to forego a good deal, when once we catch sight of the spiritual acquisitions, which beckon to us. And this is the true way to reach consecration and surrender. Let's not ever dwell on the giving-up side, but on the receiving side. Let's keep in mind the meaning of the old Hebrew word for consecration, to fill the hand. There will not be much trouble in getting men to empty their hands of wood, hay, and stubble, if they see that there is a chance of filling them with the treasures, which gleam from the faces or lives of others, or which call to them from the page of Scripture. The world pities us, because it sees only what we give up; however, it would hold its sympathy, if it could also see how much we receive "good measure, pressed down, and running over given into our bosoms."
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