After hearing two different sermons on burdens, I was so inspired. Here are my thougths and takeways from it...
Burdens. We all got them. There are two types of burdens, Godly ones and ungodly ones. The Godly burdens are the ones we are asked to bear. The ungodly ones we are asked to give up at the cross.
Let's talk about ungodly burdens first. Ungodly burdens are burdens we put on ourselves, whether we are aware of it or not. These are burdens that are suppressing us; sucking joy, compassion, and peace out of our hearts.
Sin is the most common ungodly burden. When we have unresolved sin in our life, we are bound to feel burdened. It weighs heavy on our hearts. Shame, resistance to surrender, and anger are a few more samples of burdens we carry. Our mental health can severely suffer from not giving a burden to God. If we don't know who we are in Christ, our self worth can plummet as Satan tugs us down by tossing us lies. This is a suffocating burden. Sometimes we think that if we beat ourselves up enough, our burden will get lighter, or then we will be paying for our sin. False.
No matter what it is, when we push God out of the center focus, a burden will start stacking up. A form of this is when we do God’s work - our way. Whenever I find myself getting weary with doing good, God asks me to refocus. Is He honestly asking me to do all this? Where is He in this? Our my eyes on Him or on all the problems and distractions? I think burn out is a result of carrying a goldy burden in an ungodly way. God never has required so much out of us that we burn out. Yes, He can use it for His good when it occurs, but burnout is not in God’s original plan for us.
When ungodly burdens are not dealt with, they always get bigger and bigger, uglier and uglier, heavier and heavier. No one is strong enough to continue carrying ungodly burdens. Just how our shoulders can only carry so much physical weight, our emotional shoulders can also carry just so much weight. At some point, we’ll reach our breaking point. We'll collapse.
It is then we need a come-to-Calvary moment. ‘’Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.’’ 1 Peter 5:7. Cast all. I like that. Not slowly hand over, bit by bit. No. full on CAST. ALL of it. There is nothing too big or too small that we cannot cast on Jesus. Jesus came to set souls free from ungodly burdens.
You do not need to stay captive. You are capable of letting your burdens go. All the burdens that you are almost letting go of, all the ones that seem down right impossible to let go of, and even the ones you know you’ll probably hoist up tomorrow. Sometimes we go through this thing where we let go of a burden but then a week later, we are picking it back up. Dear one, Calvary can never be visited too often.
You can be free. It is only one choice away.
Will you go to Calvary today?
Now for Godly burdens. These burdens are not sinful. These are burdens that we have been asked to carry. Because God is in the center of it, they are not daunting to bear.
Taking care of the sick, opening your home to troubled hearts, and helping someone in a tough situation can all be Godly burdens. Since the devil sees the great work we are headed out to do through Christ, he quickly tries to drag us down by turning Godly burdens into ungodly burdens. He manipulates his way into our hearts, planting lies like ‘’This is too hard.’’ ‘’Why do I have to do this?’’ and ‘’Can’t someone else take this over?’’ But what if God has called us forth for such a time as this? Declaring that the Lord’s work is too much/too heavy can actually be a sin. Because by saying that, we are limiting our Father.
Are you willing to bear burdens that seem unjust to You? Sometimes things are asked of us that make not one bit of sense to us. We are tempted to believe we don’t deserve this burden. But what about Jesus? Think of all that He carried - for us.
When a dear one’s soul becomes lost, or when tragedy smacks us in the face, our hearts will be burdened. Grief is an intense burden to bear. At those times though, we realize that godly burdens are not in our control. However, we still need to come to a certain rest in our hearts. A spiritual rest. And become settled that this is what we are asked to bear. There is hope. Not once, in the whole history of time, has God ever let His people down. And He never will. God is our burden-carrier - if we let Him.
Galatians 6:2, ''Carry each other burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.'' and then three verses later it states, ''...for each one should carry their own burden.''
Anyone else confused?
Even though it can seem like these verses contradict with each other, they both are the truth. Yes we must help carrying each others burdens when necessary but we also must carry our own burdens when God has asked us to.
When thinking of carrying one another's burdens, think of lifting weights. When a body builder lifts weights, his posture has to be just right. He is bent at the knee. That's the same way we must be concerned about our posture when we are helping to carry another's burden. Are we bent at the knee...Are we carrying it in a prayerful posture?
Their load is like a backpack we are carrying. Often we are so caught up in our stuff that we don’t see where we are headed. Suddenly we slip and contents from the pack spill across the trail. It is then when Christ-like community is incredibly important. A friend will kneel down on the ground with you and help gather up the scattered items. Sometimes they offer, ‘’Here, let me help carry that load.’’ And sometimes they advice, ‘’I think it's time you go to the cross again.’’
As we ponder this topic, we can’t help but read Matthew 11:28-30. ‘’Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I WILL give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you WILL find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’’
Picture this. Two oxen, standing side by side, yoked up together. Think of the weight those two can carry - together. Think of the work they can get done - together. Think of the power that is in that team - together.
Now picture you and Jesus. Standing side by side, yoked up together. Even though you are a team, you are learning from Him. As you are walking together, you realize your burden is light. You realize your heart is at rest because it’s not just you pulling all the load anymore. And you realize this is why we are called to bear more than we could possibly bear on our own, because now that Jesus is yoked up beside us, we are more than conquerors.
We are all bruised. And we will all continue to become bruised. Yet there is such powerful hope we can embrace.
Jesus.
Jesus is the answer for any ungodly burden and any Godly burden. If it’s ungodly, He desires to free you from it. If it is godly, He desires to yoke up with you.
Go forth with courage! You are yoked up with Christ!
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