So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way. - Hebrews 12:1 ICB

August 10, 1628, was a dark day in the history of ships. On that day the royal warship Vasa set out on her first voyage from Sweden, but she sank just one mile out to sea. What went wrong? The ship’s cargo load was too heavy! The extra weight pulled the Vasa to the bottom of the ocean.

Your Christian life can also be weighed down by extra baggage called sin. These are bad things we do that go against God’s standards for us.

The writer of the book of Hebrews tried to help us avoid this by saying, “We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way. And we should remove the sin that so easily catches us. Let us look only to Jesus” (12:1–2 ICB).

Like the Vasa, we may look good on the outside. But if on the inside we have a lot of sin, we’ll be slowed down in living for Jesus. Rely on the Bible to guide you, and remember that the Holy Spirit can help.

We don’t have to be weighed down.

It has been estimated that there are three million shipwrecks scattered across the floor of the world’s oceans.

“I don’t think I’ve ever asked the Holy Spirit to live the right way. So that’s what I’m doing right now.”