So, how do I [endure]? … You do that negatively and positively. Negatively: You must rid yourself of sin and every hindrance in running the race. Notice what Hebrews 12:1 says, in the second part: Let us lay aside every way, that is every hindrance, and the sin that so easily besets us. That is not just your favourite sin, or your besetting sin, or your darling sin or your bosom sin, that is every sin. And so, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Now, the author is picturing these Grecian runners, when they get out of the starting blocks. They are ready to take off. And what happens next is they get rid of all excess clothing; they actually ran nearly naked. And they get rid of all of their paraphernalia. They run so that nothing weighs them down, nothing holds them back. They run steadily and deliberately laying aside every hindrance. And so, the author to the Hebrews says: That is the way to run the marathon of the Christian race; lay aside everything that would get in the way, that would entangle you, that would trip you up on the racetrack of the Christian pilgrimage, the Christian warfare, as you go through Vanity Fair on your way to the Celestial City. So, anything that would take your eyes of your Saviour, anything that would interrupt your relationship with God. Put it away. Sin, all sin, will trip you up. Lay it aside. Kill it. Sin is dreadful. Sin damages us as we run the Christian race. Sin makes us worldly and selfish and proud and unbelieving. Sin capitulates in the spiritual warfare. Sin is anti-God. Sin is spiritual insanity. Hate sin. Put it to death. That is what he is saying.¹

Joel Beeke