For the first 18 years of my life, my parents assisted me with burdens.
From teaching me responsibility to getting me jobs to tending to my
basic needs, they helped me carry the burdens that come with growing up.
Since then, there have been other occasions when they helped me bear
unwanted burdens: when I lost a job, when a relationship failed, when a
child rebelled, when my only car broke down.
Others have also
helped me carry burdens. Church members who've come to my side when
death took a loved one, grandparents who helped me purchase tires for a
vehicle, a child who forked over hard earned money to help me pay a
bill, total strangers who helped me free my truck from a snow drift, and
a spouse who helps me bear every burden that surfaces.
The
ancient prophet told of how the coming Messiah would help bear burdens.
He would not blow in on a white horse and conquer Israel's enemies.
Rather, He would bear burdens the first time and conquer at His Second
Coming.
The greatest burden Jesus Christ helps carry is sin.
Since I'm born with a sinful nature, I need a burden bearer. On the
cross, Jesus bore the sins of humanity. Though paid for in full, the
results of what He accomplished are only effective when I ask for what
He did to be applied to my personal life. Forgiveness doesn't
automatically happen.
When I ask Jesus to carry my sin burden, it
is not only carried but removed and thrown as far as the East is from
the West as well as shoved into the uttermost depths of the ocean. In
other words, He eliminates the penalty for this burden: eternity apart
from Him.
Unfortunately, life also has other burdens that result
not from my personal sin but from living in a world tainted by sin.
These burdens I need help bearing also. While others help me shoulder
these burdens, only God can do it consistently and permanently. Others
will disappoint me-not necessarily intentionally but simply because they
are human.
Though the help of others is wonderful and needed, the
help of an all-powerful and all-knowing God is crucial. He is the burden
bearer who will never leave or forsake us. Are you letting Christ bear
your burdens?
Martin Wiles
Hodges, South Carolina, USA
