Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11:28)
Reread the passage above but this time let it sink in your spirit.
Now, what do you feel? Did you feel a dark cloud hovering over your spirit lifted, or you didn’t feel any change in your emotions? If you belong to the latter, let me expound and break the passage slightly more.
Burdens are like pieces of baggage. Emotional baggage. Passing through an X-ray machine, you’ll find hate, resentment, bitterness, envy, indifference, anger, and other evil thoughts. Together with this baggage is a carry-on of don’t-bother-me kind of attitude and a long sourpuss face.
No wonder you feel heavy and can’t live life with a lighter attitude. Do you have this kind of baggage in your life? If so, the Bible verse above is your lifelong prescription to freedom.
Jesus is inviting us to bring all of our encumbrances to Him. We are not meant to carry our burdens alone. Sure, we have friends that we can talk to and vent out all our pent-up feelings and have a pity party but it doesn’t offer a permanent fix.
All of us have been hurt in one way or another and as a consequence, we become hardened and bitter and store hatred in our hearts. Stored-up bitterness eats us up slowly and over time it affects our health.
Cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses have a root cause, and believe it or not, it springs out from our hearts.
Try to examine and analyze what comes out of your mouth and if you hear anything that is not pleasing, check your heart for the Bible says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.” (Proverbs 4:23-24) Your words reflect the condition of your heart. You might be able to control it at times, but it will soon come out and your actions will reflect your inward thoughts and feelings.
Sure you’ve been hurt and have been mistreated and reason out that you don’t deserve such actions but so was Jesus on the cross. The Lord was beaten, mocked, spit upon, and called with such derogatory remarks but His response was, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). This is hard for us to follow which is why God provided the Holy Spirit who will empower us to do what we can’t do on our own.
Any hidden sin that you hold on to is like putting on the shackles on your neck, hands, and legs that imprison and a load of trash on your back. This is a self-inflicted confinement that can only be set free once you lay all impure thoughts and emotions at the hands of Jesus.
Do not try to get even with your offender; take the high road and pick your battles for not all situations need to be addressed — some are just detours and irritants that are not even worth your time and attention.
Let God handle all of your adversaries for He said in Romans 12:19, “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay.”
SO, HERE’S MY WORK LIST FOR YOU TODAY:
- Check your heart. See if there is anything that you have been harboring for all these years and lay it all to God in prayer.
- Forgive your enemies and yourself
- Do not do memory reruns of things done and said in the past
- Capture every ungodly thought and replace it with God’s Word
- Live life moving forward and leave the past in its proper place — which is in the past
- Fix your thoughts on what is honest, just, pure, lovely, and on things of good report (Philippians 4:8)
- Receive the abundant life God has freely given you
On a final note, I will leave you with a song from the Disney movie, Frozen, entitled, Let it Go.
Let it all go and live the best life.
