Many things can get in between us and God. I don't think I even have to mention any of them because you know what they are, because you probably know what is pulling you away even now.
But, God doesn't want those things to hinder your relationship with Him. He loves you and wants to be with you! And you can't afford to be away from Him either. In Song of Solomon, the Lover (who represents God) says to his beloved (that's us): "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom." (1:15) Although it was just something little and not necessarily bad, it was destroying the vineyards they had planted together.
Similarly, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we need to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." (Hebrews 12:1) We can't get rid of just some things that hinder us, or just some of our sin, thinking it's good enough. All of it has to be thrown away.
But it's hard. How are we supposed to recognize the hindrances, let alone throw them off? The next verse, Hebrews 12:2, unlocks the secret to doing this: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."
That's it. All we have to do is turn our attention away from the little things that build up, the little foxes that destroy our vineyards, and toward Jesus!
