Better — Part 8 | Run Like You’re Already Loved
What are you still carrying that Jesus never asked you to carry? Most of us are running hard, and when the exhaustion sets in we assume the answer is to try harder. Pastor Dave DiSabatino, who serves at Journey Church and also works as a counseling therapist, opens Hebrews 12 and reframes the whole question. Hebrews 12 was written to tired people, and the writer never tells them to try harder. He tells them to put something down first, and then keep running. In Part 8 of Better, the difference between signing up for the race and being changed by the training.
Series: Better
Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-13
Pastor: Dave DiSabatino
Date: August 23, 2026
Key Takeaways
Not everything weighing you down is sin, and some of it was never yours to carry. Hebrews separates two things on purpose: the weight that hinders and the sin that entangles. You can love Jesus and still be carrying beliefs Jesus never gave you, things like "I have to keep everyone happy" or "if something goes wrong, it is my job to fix it." The question that sorts it out is short: is this actually mine to carry? Your choices, your attitude, your words and your obedience belong to you. Someone else’s reactions, emotions and approval never did.
What keeps tripping you up is usually not the thing you think it is. The word Hebrews uses is entangles, and it describes something wrapped around your feet, not something sitting on your back. Pastor Dave described a counseling session with someone convinced their problem was anger, until one question changed the room: what are you afraid would happen if you did not get angry? The answer was that their spouse would leave. What looked like anger was fear. What looks like control is often anxiety, and what looks like defensiveness is often shame.
Jesus goes after the wound, not just the behavior. The usual response to a pattern we keep repeating is to promise God we will do better, which spends all our energy on the part other people can see. Pastor Dave changed the question: instead of asking only what is wrong with me, ask what happened in me that Jesus wants to heal. Sometimes we are working hard to kill a behavior while Jesus is trying to heal the injury underneath it, and transformation starts when we bring the real thing into his presence instead of the version of ourselves we prefer to show.
God is training you, not punishing you, and the harvest arrives later than you want. The word Hebrews uses for discipline is paideia, which means formation and training, not payment. Punishment is about paying for what you did. Training is about preparing you for who you are becoming, and Jesus already settled the punishment at the cross. Pastor Dave drew a firm line here: abuse, betrayal and trauma are never God’s discipline. But even pain God did not cause, he can still use. Hebrews says the harvest comes "later on," which is why judging the race while you are still running it gets the wrong answer.
God is not standing at the finish line telling you to run faster. Verse 12 speaks to feeble arms and weak knees, which is to say it speaks to people who are already worn out. The gospel does not say perform well enough and God may accept you. Jesus has already run the race, already endured the cross, and already sat down, which means the work is finished. So you are not running toward acceptance. You are running from it. Lay down what was never yours, name what keeps tripping you, fix your eyes on Jesus, and run like you are already loved.
