No, I didn’t say “cucumber,” I said, “Encumber.”  But, if every time you see an “unpickled” pickle, it helps to remind you of this encouragement, it could be a good thing to think of cucumbers.  🙂

Let’s preface our thought today by considering that just because something is good, does not mean that it is the best.  In fact, something good can hold you back and hinder you from experiencing God’s best in your life!

Jot down the top five things you consider to have added something good to your life (not including family or children),  i.e. bass boat, widescreen TV, PTA member, vacation home/time share, Saturday morning book club, etc…

Could any of these be preventing you from experiencing God’s best in your life?  Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily clings to and entangles us.”  Did you notice that scripture makes a distinction between sin and encumbrance in that verse?  Sin will entangle you.  Encumbrances will weigh you down.  Picture a sprinter attempting to win a race while holding on to two large weights.   The extra weights will slow him down.  Anyone who sees him can immediately determine that he is not running in such a way to win the race.  In order to win, he must throw aside those encumbrances.

Oswald Chambers makes a profound statement in a devotional titled, ‘The Good or The Best,’ as he writes, “The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

(Written with a smile.)  Don’t find yourself in a pickle.  Get rid of the cucumbers in your life that weigh you down.

-Pastor Gary

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