September 27, 2026
The Road Trip
Hebrews 12:1 – “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.”
The suitcase sat open on the bed for nearly an hour before the trip, clothes laid out and reconsidered more than once. Something about packing for a long drive forces a particular kind of honesty. Every item added means less room for something else, and a trunk only holds so much before extra weight starts slowing the car down and eating into the gas mileage. The instinct is not to bring everything that might possibly be useful. It is to bring only what the trip actually requires, leaving behind the things that felt necessary in the closet but would only become dead weight on the road.
That kind of discipline does not come naturally. It is tempting to pack for every possible scenario, an outfit for every mood, shoes for every occasion, just in case something unplanned comes up along the way. But an overpacked car handles differently than a light one. It burns more fuel, takes longer to load and unload, and often carries things that never once get used the entire trip, taking up space that could have gone toward something that actually mattered.
The writer of Hebrews described the Christian life as a race, and urged believers to throw off everything that hinders along with the sin that so easily entangles. Not every hindrance is sin itself. Some of it is simply excess weight, habits and attachments and distractions that are not wrong in themselves but slow the pace all the same, carried along out of comfort rather than need. A life prepared for the long road ahead looks a great deal like that open suitcase, examined honestly, packed with only what the journey actually requires.
Today’s Prayer: Lord, show me what I am carrying that is only slowing me down. Give me the discipline to leave behind what does not serve the race You have called me to run. Amen.
Reflection Question: What is currently weighing down your spiritual life that isn’t necessarily sinful, but simply isn’t needed for the road ahead?