Keith has become my porter. Depending on my condition at any given moment, high eye pressure, foggy vision, post-op, etc, I am not supposed to lift more than 10-20 pounds. The ten pound limit is a real problem. A grocery sack with a bag of sugar and a bag of flour weighs ten pounds. If the bagger adds anything else, I am over the limit. That makes for a lot of trips back and forth to the car.
So Keith does a lot of carrying. He even insists on carrying my purse sometimes, which I assured him weighs only 4 lbs—I checked it to make sure.
The Lord has promised to carry our burdens, but we don’t want to turn them over to him. The worries are not that big a deal to give up; it’s all the emotional baggage from the past that for some reason we cannot seem to part with. You would think it was a treasured heirloom.
Just imagine the troubles the Lord might have had if people had been so reluctant in the first century. Just look at the apostles. How in the world would Simon the Zealot and Matthew the publican have ever gotten along if they had not rid themselves of their “baggage?” These men came from opposite poles in ideology, and Simon was certainly passionate about it. Yet they learned to trust one another and get along.
Yes, it took a little help from Barnabas for the Jerusalem church to accept their former persecutor, the man who turned them over to their tormentors and executors, but they did. How much more difficult would it have been for the gospel to be preached to all the world if they had rejected Saul of Tarsus? Would we have so easily accepted this former enemy into our midst?
How many times do we let our pasts affect how we treat one another? Can I not trust a brother because a long time ago someone hurt my feelings? Do I expect the worst of even my brothers and sisters in Christ because in the past someone disappointed me? Do I judge everyone as “out to get me” because at one time someone was? Too many times the people we claim to love have to pay for what someone they never even knew did to us simply because we cannot let it go.
Jesus expects that when I become his disciple I will put all that extra baggage on him. There may be times when I am tempted to pick it up again, but if I have taken on his burden—take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, Matt 11:29,30—I won’t have room for anything else.
So the question is, are you truly his disciple? Whose burden are you trying to carry today, his light one or your heavy one? If you are having trouble getting along with someone, especially someone you are supposed to love and trust, I bet I know the answer to that one.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5:6,7.
Dene Ward
So Keith does a lot of carrying. He even insists on carrying my purse sometimes, which I assured him weighs only 4 lbs—I checked it to make sure.
The Lord has promised to carry our burdens, but we don’t want to turn them over to him. The worries are not that big a deal to give up; it’s all the emotional baggage from the past that for some reason we cannot seem to part with. You would think it was a treasured heirloom.
Just imagine the troubles the Lord might have had if people had been so reluctant in the first century. Just look at the apostles. How in the world would Simon the Zealot and Matthew the publican have ever gotten along if they had not rid themselves of their “baggage?” These men came from opposite poles in ideology, and Simon was certainly passionate about it. Yet they learned to trust one another and get along.
Yes, it took a little help from Barnabas for the Jerusalem church to accept their former persecutor, the man who turned them over to their tormentors and executors, but they did. How much more difficult would it have been for the gospel to be preached to all the world if they had rejected Saul of Tarsus? Would we have so easily accepted this former enemy into our midst?
How many times do we let our pasts affect how we treat one another? Can I not trust a brother because a long time ago someone hurt my feelings? Do I expect the worst of even my brothers and sisters in Christ because in the past someone disappointed me? Do I judge everyone as “out to get me” because at one time someone was? Too many times the people we claim to love have to pay for what someone they never even knew did to us simply because we cannot let it go.
Jesus expects that when I become his disciple I will put all that extra baggage on him. There may be times when I am tempted to pick it up again, but if I have taken on his burden—take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, Matt 11:29,30—I won’t have room for anything else.
So the question is, are you truly his disciple? Whose burden are you trying to carry today, his light one or your heavy one? If you are having trouble getting along with someone, especially someone you are supposed to love and trust, I bet I know the answer to that one.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you, 1 Peter 5:6,7.
Dene Ward
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