Unload those heavy rocks…and carry His Presence instead

Jesus invites us to an amazing exchange. We give him the burdensome “rocks” of our struggles, and He gives us the weight of His Holy Spirit instead. He carries our heavy load, and we carry His Presence and the weight of glorious destiny and purpose in life.

It’s basically a really good deal. 

Jesus said “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30

Life is like walking around with a backpack on the shoulders, into which rocks of all sizes are constantly dropped. We carry a solid weight of ongoing concerns – performance stress, financial challenges, meeting others’ expectations and much more. On top of these life adds small stones of low level “niggles” and irritations (power outages in SA), heavier rocks of hurt or offence in relationships, and the occasional boulder of a major stress event. Some appear to have a greater carrying capacity and others are good at hiding the strain, but everyone becomes tired and at some point begins to buckle under the weight. Diversions can provide temporary relief and mind discipline can help, but the heavy load is still there when we come back to reality.

But Christ changes our reality. In His great love and care for us He takes on our burdens and goes to work in solving problem when we surrender them to Him. This is not psychology, its not just a way of thinking. He actually does this. In reality. He takes the backpack if we hand it to Him – anytime, any place.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Pet 5:7