Burdens and Crosses Article 7

Do you know what a burden is?  Do you know what we are supposed to do with them?  How may of us have ever thought about a burden?  The burden that ma had nothing to do with is the Cross of Christ.  The Cross was Christ’s burden.  Until recently, I had paid no attention to our burdens of life, what burdens were in my life and what I was supposed to do with them.

Burdens

In Job 5:7  It says “Man is born to trouble, as sparks fly upward”.  What a statement.  Because of man’s nature, at sometime in a man’s life, he has made some trouble for ad others be saying, acting, or doing something wrong to another person.  Burdens are a part of every ones life.  A burden is something that happens to you, car accident, sickness, a disease, broken bones, adverse circumstances, having a few failures in life.  Another part of this is anxieties and fears that cripple your normal thinking process.  In anxieties, a person thinks of all the different ways that something could or might happen.  Unfortunately it keeps us moving from one subject to another, from one problem to another, without coming up with any lasting solutions.  As easy as this sounds, Christ has an answer for you, in Psalm 55:22 He says, “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you, He will never allow the righteous to be shaken”.  In 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you”. (NASB)  Some versions say, cast all your cares upon Him.  No matter what it says, we are to cast our burdens upon Christ.  I would like to get a picture in your mind, have you ever  seen a fisherman casting his line and bait into a river?  He is casting his line away from himself.  That is what Christ wants us to do with our burdens, cast them away from us, to Christ, all of our burdens.  The fisherman is trying to catch fish.  We have a burden we want to get rid of, so we want to cast that burden on Christ and not reel it back into our lives.  We do not choose our burdens, they happen in every ones life.  In Galations 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ”.  Galations 6:5 says, “For each one shall bear his own load”.  (burden)  We should be willing to help others to handle their burdens, without us meddling in their lives, and only if they ask for help.  Christ is the ultimate help for He said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto 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 SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  Foe my yoke is easy, and My load is light”. (Load=burden)

Christ had a burden as well, His Cross.  I do believe that Christ knew what what  was going to happen to Him.  To many times in the old testament it said what He was going to be, how He was going to act and that He was going to take the sins of the world upon Himself.  His blood sacrifice is to be once for all, for all time.  Hebrews 12:11-12.  “And every priest ministering, and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Christ) having offered one sacrifice for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD”.

What else happened to Christ that was a burden to Him?  In Mark 15:15,  Christ was scourged, in verse 17, they put a purple robe on Him, they weaved a crown of thorns and put it on His head and kept  beating Him with a reed.  In verse 20, they were spitting on Him, knelling down before Him, mocking Him, they took the purple robe off and put the cross o His back to carry to Golgotha.  When they saw He couldn’t carry it, Simon was pressed into service to carry it for Him.  You see, in Chapter 14:36 Jesus asked the father, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”.  We see that Christ wanted the will of His Father and not His own will.  Do we want to do our will, or the will of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus has experienced every infirmity that we have.  Hebrews 12:2,3 “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so you may not grow weary and lose heart”.    What a great verse, read it over and over.

There were burdens that came from satan to interfere with the disciples.  Paul stated that they wanted to come to the  Thessalonians and more than once, and yet satan thwarted them. I Thessalonians 2:18  Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a messenger of satan to buffet his body, to keep Paul from exalting Himself.  2 Corinthians 12:7  in the Temple one Sabbath day, a woman had a sickness by a spirit; she was bent over double and could not straighten up.  Jesus saw her, called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness”.  In Revelation 2:10, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.  Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life”.  As you can see our adversary is active in trying to keep people from the salvation that Christ wants for them.  The closer it comes to the end, more will be on his side trying to take control, until Jesus steps in and brings it all to the ed for the elects sake.

The Cross

Jesus said, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me”.  Matthew 10:38     In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples, “if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me”.  Paul said Galations 6:14, but may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which has been crucified to Me, and I to the world.

What is the cross to the believer, it is his service to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you are always thinking of how can I help, or what can I do to help somebody in need, you have died to self.  If your thought process is always looking to the next person that might need help on some way shape or form.  Jesus says in Matthew 25:35-40  For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger; and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison , and you came to me.  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord when did we see you hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and gave You drink?  And when did I see You as a stranger, and invite you You in, or naked, and cloth You? And when did we see You sick,or in prison, and come to You?  And the King will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.

Sometimes we start reversing the burden syndrome by volunteering at a church, a shelter of some type, senior center.  Just talk to anybody that you meet. It is easier than you think.  So many seniors have adult children that never go to see their aging parent.  The Union Gospel Mission is in many cities that would love to see a new volunteer.  Their are homeless centers for teens, battered woman shelters. Volunteer anywhere and be blessed.  Asked the Lord were He would like you to volunteer.  He will answer you.  Wait and listen for His voice.

Last article I gave you a riddle about ego.  The answer below.

E  EDGING

G  God

O  Out

Reverence to our Savior

When I rededicated my life to Christ in 1978, after reading the first night, I asked God to be my teacher of His word.  I wanted Him to teach me what He wanted me to know about that particular scriptures I read.  Even though I graduated from a bible college, my prayer has never changed.  I would meet with Him Monday to Friday at 7PM.  Many times He would wake me up during the night and talk to me.  I love Him for doing that, and He has answered my prayer to this day to teach me.  I can say He has never missed our time together.  He still wakes me up at night, why would I want anything to change.  I know how important that time is for me.  I have said when when I rededicated my life to Christ, He picked me up, dusted me off, worked on rebuilding my character and my life.  Then He opened the door and sent me out to help others.  This too could be your call.  I was blessed by my church when they asked me to call on people in the hospitals in the area on the days the pastors  did ot make calls.  I was blessed 25 years.  There were many instances where Jesus increased my faith by showing me many healings He has performed.  A lot of times when I come into His presence, He floods my soul with His love, fills me with His peace, and gives me so much mercy.  There is an old hymn that says, “and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we teary there, none other has ever known”. (In the Garden)  He is a tender loving Savior, and He wants us to be tender loving believers.