The Christian life promises us a lot. It promises us that there is a loving God who is for us. It promises us salvation, peace, and comfort in knowing that our worth and our value comes from the one who created us. It promises us eternal life with the Father. It also promises us suffering, struggling, and heartache. It promises us a lot of loss, for a bigger gain.
The sermon jam titled, "Running," featuring Pastor John Piper, commands us not to "just let aside sin," but to lay aside "every other weight...that gets in [our] way" from running toward Jesus. So, God doesn't want just our sins out of the way; He wants every single thing that prevents us from knowing Him better to be cast aside. This means not only do we have to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness and cleansing of things the bible calls sin, but we must also free our hearts and minds from anything else that slows us down in our race toward God.
Which is terrifying.
This means ridding ourselves of ambitions and hopes for the future that prevent us from loving God better. This means throwing away our own plans for our lives when they interfere with what God has planned. This means setting aside our desire for marriage, for our own family, for our dream jobs. This means losing friendships, relationships, jobs, and hobbies that consume us or prevent us from running toward God. This means loss, lots of it.
Now, this isn't to say that having a desire for those things is wrong. God gives us desires and passions and hobbies and people because He wants us to experience the joys of this world. It is not sinful nor wrong to want to have a spouse, a family, a great job, or to desire success and other blessings. However, if these ideas, things, or people get in the way of us running toward Jesus, there is a problem. If anything, in addition to our sin, prevents us from knowing God or pursuing God, it has to be set aside.
So what is to be gained from a relationship that also results in so much loss?
Infinite love, peace, passion, grace, mercy and joy are guaranteed to all who place their hope in Jesus. Life will be hard, sufferings will be great, but "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18 ESV). So, for a little while, we have to endure a hard life. We have to set aside some of our greatest desires and biggest struggles. We have to endure loss, so that we may gain.
So, like John Piper says in his sermon: the only question you need to ask yourself is, "Does it get in my way or does it help me run?"
