Do you ever find yourself carrying weights and burdens that no one knows about? Certainly, people may see your load but they may not know how heavy the weight has become. What are some weights you carry around? Is it family, work, children, school, ministry or money perhaps? For many of us, it is all the above plus some. If you really think about it, aren’t these really gifts from God? Absolutely. However, sometimes a gift can become a weight. Any gift that God grants comes with a great measure of responsibility. As we all know, responsibilities carry weight because people are relying on us.
There are two words in the New Testament for weight. Let’s consider two scriptures:
Hebrews 12:1 - …let us lay aside every weight (#3591) and sin which doth easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is before us. (KJV)
2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight (#922) of glory. (KJV)
Word Study
Strongs #3591 – mass (as bending or bulging by its burden) weight, hindrance
Strongs #922 – weight – figurative load, abundance, authority - burdensome
In short, there is good ‘weight’ and bad ‘weight.’ Bad weight (#3591) hinders us from being who God has called us to be and doing what God has called us to do. These weights are not only too heavy for us to bear but also too costly. Weights of guilt, shame, hurt and unforgiveness bends our will and impedes God’s plan for our lives. We cannot hold these kinds of weights and walk through life as the scripture in Hebrews 12:1 implies. We are instructed to lay aside, throw off and put down these weights.
PUT IT DOWN
Throughout this week, I challenge you to consider the weights that you carry. The weights that have bent you down to the point where you KNOW it’s not spiritually, physically or emotionally healthy. Perhaps it is a toxic relationship, too many extra-curriculum activities, memories that trap us to the past, addiction to pornography, overspending or lying. Oftentimes it is not until a weight has broken our spirits do we decide to give attention to that area in our life. Unfortunately, we have spent so much time bent over and wearied from its weight that we no longer have the strength to fight, self-correct or wait for God. God will not take away a weight that we voluntarily carry. You must acknowledge the weight, make up in your mind to put it down and refuse to pick it up daily. What will you put down today?
KNEEL DOWN
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
Not all weight is negative weight. There is a weight, or figurative load that is grace-laced and full of the promises of God. This weight cannot be contained to this world, your life and your situations. This weight is full of the glory of God and his manifest power in our lives today, tomorrow and forever. This includes the weight of the call that’s on your life to live out the purpose that God has attended. It bears a temporary affliction because it was designed to fulfill a permanent promise. Nothing compares to the weight of God’s glory. Nothing compares to the wealth, health and promises of God. The truth of this allows us to put everything into its proper prospective.
When you recognize this weight and its glory there is only one immediate response – that’s falling to our knees in prayer, worship and reverence. The glory of God is uncontainable, unmeasurable and unduplicatable. We are children of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We are heirs to God’s throne and co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17) Nevertheless, the burden of this crown is weighted in responsibility but also in promise.
Now, the question becomes what do we do with what God has called us to do in a life that constantly pulls on with responsibilities? Check out next week's blog, Balancing the Weight.