Weekone

There's nothing quite like running in a race and being in
the lead. Way out in front of the pack is an exhilarating
place. If you've never experienced it, you should round up
some slow people and give it a try.
In the lead is where I found myself one day during an
eighth-grade track meet. It was a 220-yard run, which in most
places is halfway around the track. I was just coming into the
second turn when I was taken with the not-so-humble thought
:hat everyone else in the race was inhaling my dust. A slight
wave of cockiness overcame me, and I decided to do what the
rrack coaches tell you never to do�I looked back.
Yep, there were my suffering competitors, several feet be-
-iind me and straining hard. I turned back smugly to the home
stretch of the race. That's when a fairly large moth flew between
:he upper and lower boundaries of my prematurely confident
s,nn. It landed right on the back of my tongue, and suddenly
:he race was the last thing on my mind.
I began spitting, coughing, and hacking, and various moth
Darts escaped from my mouth with each effort. I actually remem-
ber thinking, "That was a wing! That was a leg! Oh yuck, that
was an antenna!"
Once moth parts stopped coming out, the feeling of utter
disgust set in, I had tasted�and almost digested�an ugly, flut-
tering insect. It had spent long enough in my mouth for me to
dismember it, and who knows what microscopic parts or fluids
might still be with me. What kind of doctor does one see for
moth poisoning?
Although this all happened in a matter of seconds, I think
you can imagine what happened in the race. That guy who was
straining so hard in second place and two or three of his buddies
passed me up, and I ended up having their dust as a main course
for my moth appetizer. I lost the race�the race I was winning
until then.
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. (Hebrews 12:1)
This verse makes a distinction between "the sin that so easily
entangles" and "everything that hinders." Yet both keep us from
running our best spiritual race.
If my competitors in that race had designated someone to grab
my ankles or trip me at the starting line, well, I wouldn't even have
run the race. That's one way to look at sin. It's debilitating. Con
fining. You don't even want to run when you're in its embrace.
The moth, on the other hand, is more like temptation. I
was a distraction that took my attention away from the race jus
enough to help me lose it. If my mouth had been closed, th
moth would have been a minor, insignificant distraction. It w;
when I "opened up" to it that the distraction became as effects
as someone holding on to my ankles. And who knows? Mayl
after you swallow enough moths, you acquire a disgusting, dai
gerous taste for moth soup.
Is your mouth open?
What "distractions" will you face today that might keep you frc
running your best race? Have you deliberately placed some hurdlies out there yourself that make your race harder to run? Will
you commit now not to turn your head and open your mouth,
even when you're in the lead?
You might also take a look at... James 1:2-4; James 1:12-15

Okay, okay, I admit it. We had roaches in the house one time.
I think they crawled up the plumbing or had an inside
track to the bathroom, because that's where I'd always see
them. Usually it was during the middle of the night, with my eyes half open, my bladder the only part of me that was fully awake, my feet bare, and... ARRRRGGHH! The fleet-footed little creature would run across just enough open terrain to make my toes curl before it darted into some crack or crevice. And that hiding place was always shaped differently than any would-be weapon in the house.
Then we got a roach motel. If you've never used one of these
things, it's almost worth getting a few roaches just to see it in ac-
tion. They're lightweight, little cardboard boxes with narrow stripsof... roach bait, I guess... and high-powered glue strips runningalong either side of the bait.
As I opened the package and examined my first roach motel,
I wondered what would entice a roach inside it, and what possi-
ble good those little strips of glue could do. But I dutifully placedit in the bathroom-right by their impenetrable crevice fortressand at 2:00 A.M. I had my first catch. It was stuck just inside on the first of the three glue strips, wriggling like crazy, but definitely"checked in."I started to throw the little motel away, but it suddenly hit me that catching one roach per motel would be an expensive way to solve the problem. So I decided to put the trap back down. My "guest" wasn't going anywhere, and while I didn't expect any halfway intelligent cockroach to go into the "occupied" motel, Itook some delight in thinking of this creature as an intimidating example that would scare the rest of the tribe (what's a group ofcockroaches called anyway?) out of my bathroom.
The next morning I was amazed to find five guests! Then eight,
then eleven. I think the most I could ever fit into one motel was
twenty-five or so. (Don't tell the roach motel fire marshal-we mayhave been over the occupancy level.) They would actually crawlover one another to get inside to the bait. I thought the middle strip of glue would be useless, because only the strips on each endwould catch anything that came in. But when the outer glue stripswere full, new roaches stepped on the backs of their trapped compatriots! My astute conclusion? Roaches are as stupid as they areugly. Or are they?
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to myteaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know thetruth, and the truth will set you free. "
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have
never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be
set free?"Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins
is a slave to sin." (John 8:31-34)
Jesus' conversation with his critics shows us that those
trapped in sin don't consider themselves trapped. They're more
interested in their desires (the bait, if you will) than in freedor-
from their condition. And they love company. Look at how
Jesus' critics always traveled in packs, reassuring each other thattheir security was in their ancestry, or good works, rather than in the truth of God's salvation and liberation from sin.
Why do you and I wander into the sin trap time and time
again? Maybe we J'ust look at the bait and choose to ignore the
glue�and the two always go together. Why don't those already
caught in the trap warn us? They love the company and the
perverse reassurance that the pack is growing and they're not
alone. Why are we so slow to seek an escape from the trap? Our
sin deceives us into believing were in a comfortable motel�
until we try to check out and can't pay our bill.
I never, ever saw a roach leave the motel under its own
power. Of course, I held the power to redeem them from their
trap and give them a fresh start on my bathroom floor. But re-
member, these were ugly, disgusting roaches. It's not like I was
willing or able to do what our Redeemer did and become a roach
myself.
Have you checked in?
Are you in any way stuck with a pack of others in self-destructive
behavior? (Don't answer too quickly�remember, one of the
characteristics of being there is not being able to admit it.) Are
you willing to ask God for some truth to set you free? Are you
willing to check out of any motels you find yourself in, right
now"
You might also take a look at... Isaiah 3:9; 1 Timothy 5:24