Three Great Burdens

Three great burdens await our shoulders. One is the burden sent by God. It is His calling. It is our cross. This is the burden born in the events and circumstances of life through which God purifies our hearts and conforms us to Christ. It is the burden of gold. It is for his glory. It is for our good.

A second burden we pile on ourselves. It is the burden of guilt from sin; by it we call Him to the cross. This is the burden born in our brokenness, nurtured in our selfishness, expanded by our choices, and rewarded by our pride. It is the burden too heavy to heavy to bear that we are loathe to put down. It is the burden of scarlet. It is for his death. It is for our grief.

The third weight is the burden of shame heaped on us by the unmet expectations of dissatisfied others. By this burden we are called to the cross ourselves. None is equal to the task required of this great load. It cannot be borne. It crushes the spirit and breaks the heart. It is the burden of despair. It is for his shoulders. It is for our growth.

Three great burdens await our shoulders. Each cries out to be carried. But what broad back may bear such weight? When they are three they are too heavy for the soul. When they are one and the same, it is impossible. But they must be borne.

Hear this word: "Cast your cares on him, for he cares for you." And now this word: "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." And this word: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows." And this word: "Underneath are the everlasting arms."

The burden of affliction God gives for his glory and our good we take up with Christ, and though he will not undermine the Father's purposes by taking the burden from us, he will carry it with us taking the heaviest measure for himself. He will enable us to testify, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

The burden of guilt he has already borne. He carried it to the cross. God made us alive through Christ and has forgiven us all our sins and has "canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."

The burden of shame, so readily built by fragile egos at the hands of others, he also takes away. No man need be enslaved to another man's disappointment. "Who are you," the apostle asked, "to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

Cast your cares on him for he cares for you. The burdens of good, and guilt, and growth relinquish to Christ. Three great burdens await your shoulders. Give them to Jesus.