I thinks of
the load in one's day as a pile of irritants that I gritch & moan about but
a burden is a deep pain in my heart. Most
of us shoulder our burdens alone and share our loads with friends but God intends
for us to share our burdens and carry our own loads. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you
will fulfill the law of Christ.”(Galatians 6: 2) In this verse burden in the Greek translates into boulder; a boulder
is something that is too heavy for an individual to carry alone. Scripture
also says: “ … for each one should
carry his own load.” (Galatians 6: 5
) Load in the Greek translates into knapsack; a knapsack is something that each
individual is responsible to carry on his own. So, there are boulders and there
are knapsacks. We are to help carry one another’s boulders but not one
another’s knapsacks. When we carry one another’s knapsacks we get in the way of
their maturing process.
Among the new verbs created
out of nouns, “efforting” won't be found in your dictionary but it seems so
appropriate here. It means struggling
unnecessarily in an effort to do something. It could be illustrated by pushing
a car to your destination when it would be much easier to start the engine and
drive it. When I find myself “efforting,” I think of Jesus’ invitation to let
Him take the heavy part of the yoke, leaving me the lighter side. He does not
necessarily say that He will carry all of my baggage. Yet, He does promise that
when we accept His invitation, He will gladly lighten our load.
(Matthew 11: 25-30)
Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.
You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled
them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to
work.” Jesus resumed talking
to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to
do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son
intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the
Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go
over it line by line with anyone willing to listen. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on
religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show
you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting
on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” The Message
A pearl to string:
God gave us the formula in His Word. First, turn to Him, second give up
control, and third trust Him and follow.
First:
He said, “Come to Me.” There is no peace outside of Christ. Too many Christians
are living with one foot in Christ and one foot in the world. There will be no
peace for those who do not come completely to Him. Second:
To take up the yoke of Christ is to give up control
to Him. The yoke is a symbol of partnership. Christ is right next us, yoked
with us to help us with our load. A yoke is also a symbol of guidance. Yoked
with Christ, we can only move in His direction and at His pace. But we must
give Him first place and give up our control. Third:
Giving up control always leads us to trust Him. If we let Christ guide and
control us, we trust Him. Without trust, we can not follow.
In His grace
You are loved,
Lyndi
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