Weights
“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” (NIV) Hebrews 12:1
In our strive towards heaven, we are often too much concentrated on preventing sin. This is very good but let us realize that aside sin, there are other things that can stall our holy race. The passage does mention "sin" but it does also mention “everything that hinders.” The King James version expresses the same clause as "every weight". Obviously, an athlete cannot run well if he carries a weight at the same time.
Often, we justify some pleasant wrong acts with the reason that the Bible might not have condemned them loudly. Dear reader, remember that some of these might be weights and should still be shed off if we want to run the spiritual race well.