That Burden? Why, It's Just Enough To Beat Myself Down With!

The night is long; the sleeper tosses, the dreamer turns over, and the wakeful wrestle with a burden too great for sleep. Each has enjoyed one of those positions, but the sweetest is the rest given by God to those who believe in His promises. Where were you last night? Did you take up a burden again that you had once given to the Lord? Was that burden just the right size to fit your weary shoulders? I am sure that it felt just so. An old pack worn by the same person for years may seem to fit much better than a new and lighter pack. The wood frame is bent and worn in just the right spots, the leather straps soaked through with sweat so many times that they seem soft to the touch. But the truth is that the new pack is better designed and built for greater comfort and less burden to the user. We are like the old pack hauler. Our burden feels right to our worldly shoulders. The yoke Christ gives to us is somehow too new, too light; we shouldn't have less toil under the burden. How can we ever earn our salvation through a lighter yoke and a dropping of the old burdens?

I woke up early this morning and took up a burden that has been over the years just the right size and weight to beat myself down with. Obviously, I can be penitent with this burden because it has beaten me down so many times before. Look at me earn my stripes which heal nothing. Look at me, Lord, I'm taking on the tough job all alone again; I must be ready for heaven! No and no! When will we learn to leave those burdens down and take up the new yoke of Christ. The yoke sufficient for all training and correction that Christ decides that we need. Not the old solo burden that we decide to beat ourselves with, but the new light yoke that pulls in a team of those who believe in Christ Jesus. I like the new yoke and the light and easy burden that Christ gives to me. The night is too short to take up that old burden again. Why did I do it?

Pride is perhaps the answer I need to apply this morning. I think that somehow I have to do it. There must be an answer that only I can provide. The right amount of self-flagellation through hard work, the correct amount of self condemnation, the final bucket load of suffering in silence, somewhere in these must lie the road to self-promotion to heaven. Sorry, old cow, it just doesn't work that way in the Good News of Christ. Stop it! Cease beating yourself up with old burdens too great for you to carry. Leave them at the cross and trust in Jesus.

Bucky