Entangled in Yarn

A few weeks ago, I had a really good quiet time that I wanted to share with them women in my small group since it went along with a discussion we had. I was told it would make a good blog post, so I am going to post it. It is actually the exact words I sent in an e-mail to the women in my small group.

I had a good quiet time today that I wanted to share—mostly because I came up with this illustration about sin. It’s somewhat corny, but since I wrote the whole thing down, I would be disappointed if I didn’t get to share it.

After last night’s discussion on the importance of Scripture memorization, I decided I would do that today for my quiet time. I just flipped through the pages in the New Testament and wrote two down. I began memorizing them and then later broke them down into parts so that I could take away more meaning. It’s the following verse that I specifically want to share: “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.” Hebrews 12:1

It was the words “let us throw off” that caught my attention and reminded me of our discussion on sin last night. I thought of the other words used throughout what we read: flee, destroy, cut, gouge, remove, etc. Then I noticed that it says to throw off everything that hinders us AND the sin…It’s not just referring to sin; it’s referring to anything that hinders us from eventually accomplishing the goal of Christ (or “running the race”). I then read “and the sin that SO EASILY ENTANGLES”. I dwelled on the word “entangles” and thought of how it made me feel. I immediately thought of this (like I said, probably corny) analogy.

It reminded of the yarn—that stubborn, frustrating yarn. I recently ventured into the world of blanket knitting. And I’m terrible at it. Anyway, when I began knitting the baby blanket, the roll of yarn was so tangled! It doesn’t help that I wanted to forgo the task of wrapping all the yarn into an easy-to-manage ball. The roll wasn’t as bad when I started so I thought I’d be fine using it. As I went along, it got worse. For awhile, it worked because I would untangle it little by little. It would be workable for a few feet then I’d have to stop and untangle it more. I thought this would work. I was patient for awhile, but each time I untangled it, it got more difficult. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that this untangling every few feet was ridiculous and exhausting. I was also afraid that if I worked myself too far into the roll, I would have no way out and I would have to give up on the blanket entirely. I would rather just completely cut the roll off where it was and start over with a new, good roll. So I just cut off the old tangled yarn and tied on the new. I didn’t care that the first roll would be discarded and wasted. I was just glad that I was no longer working in the tangled mess. I was now free!

This frustrating experience is what came to mind when I thought about the word “entangles”. The more I thought of it, the more it looked like what happens with our sin.

Last night’s discussion about sin was a good one. Like the tangled yarn, we think our sin is fine—especially when we get rid of it little by little. We snip here and there. But snipping doesn’t work. In fact, the deeper we get, the more entangled we become in that sin. With the knitting, I had eventually realized that if I kept using that same tangled yarn, I would not be able to accomplish my goal—to make a baby blanket. Not only does sin hinder us from leading a non-frustrating and simpler life, it hinders us from accomplishing our goal for Christ and for His Kingdom. We have to completely cut the sin out—or flee from it, remove it, gouge it out, destroy it. In order to run the race with perseverance (which includes accomplishing God’s mission for His Kingdom, and the mission includes the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned at the beginning of the verse), I must remove the sin. When I remove it completely, I can accomplish that goal and also do it with a sense of freedom and peace.

I can now apply this verse to my own life by realizing that my sin doesn’t just hinder myself and my relationship with God. With the sin, I cannot help fulfill God’s mission to other people, the community, and the world. My sin affects others. And the only way to get rid of it is to destroy it at the root.