​March 11

Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us — Heb. 12:1.
 
You that discern the prize of Jehovah's calling, and who are endeavoring to press along the line toward the mark, "gird up the loins of your mind"; strengthen and fortify your purposes and efforts; renew your determination; redouble your diligence; cast aside the weights of unnecessary worldly cares; increase your zeal; and, as the Apostle urges, run with patience the race set before you. Run, not like one who is merely beating the air, but like one who has a purpose in view, and who, in desperate earnest, is determined to make his calling and election sure—Z '03, 54 (R 3149).
 
The noble example of the Ancient Worthies, as they, enclosing us as a type circumscribes its antitype, testifies of God's faithfulness to the loyal, and admonishes us to cast aside our besetting sins and errors and our weights of selfishness and worldliness which encumber us in the race for the prize. So stripped, we may the more readily persevere in the race of attaining and retaining Christlikeness—P '26, 28.
 
Parallel passages: Heb. 11:2-40; Jas. 5:10, 11; Psa. 19:12, 13; 2 Cor. 7:1; Col. 3:8; 1 Pet. 2:1; Phil. 3:13, 14; 1 Cor. 9:24, 26; Heb. 6:1; Luke 21:19; Heb. 10:36; Jas. 1:4; 5:7.

Hymns: 20, 200, 136, 95, 221, 78, 145.
Poems of Dawn, 41: The Call Divine.
Tower Reading: Z '13, 291 (R 5318).

Questions: What have I been doing with my "weights," besetting sin and the race for the prize this week? What were my motives, helps or hindrances and results?

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THE CALL DIVINE

TO-DAY, to-morrow, evermore,
Through cheerless nights without a star,
Not asking whither or how far,
Rejoicing though the way be sore,
Take up thy cross
And follow Me.

I cannot promise wealth or ease,
Fame, pleasure, length of days, esteem— 
These things are vainer than they seem— 
If thou canst turn from all of these,
Take up thy cross
And follow Me!

I promise only perfect peace,
Sweet peace that lives through years of strife;
Eternal love, immortal life,
And rest when all these wanderings cease.
Take up thy cross
And follow Me!

My yoke is easy—put it on;
My burden very light to bear.
Who shareth this, My crown shall share— ​
The present cross insures the crown.
Take up thy cross
And follow Me!