Exodus 1-3
Matthew 14:1-2
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.’” Matthew 11:28-30
What is weighing us down? What are we carrying with us? For some of us, we carry our worries, fears, resentments, bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, pride, hope and disappointments. If we imagine all of this as bags that we strap on ourselves, the weight of these bags would hinder us. Yet, the amazing and scary thing is that somehow, we learn to cope, to regulate, to survive, to make it and just do it by putting your head down and ignoring the issues. If we walked around everywhere carrying all of this baggage, does it look like we are flourishing, thriving and excelling in life? With this much burden, it is not a way to have a healthy marriage, friendships or relationships. This is not a good way to live or the kind of life that God created for us to have.
In John 10:10, Jesus tells us, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” or in the ESV translation it says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” God desires for us to flourish in life, but as humans on this side of heaven, we are going to experience fear, pain, anger and resentment. Ephesians 4:26-27 tells us, “‘In your anger do not sin’: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” The Greek word for “foothold” is topos, which means “place, any portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space; opportunity, power, occasion for acting.” In other words, when we hold onto our anger, not only do we allow the devil to occupy space in our heart, soul, body and mind, but we also give him power.
When we let anger, cynicism, bitterness and resentment take hold in our life, we are actually giving power to the devil as they grow and fester to the point that we cannot even see how they have clouded everything that we see and do. But through Christ Jesus, God is calling us to live experiencing His profound forgiveness in our lives so that we can also live in that grace.
This can only happen as we learn to trust Him more and let go of the baggage we haul around. We must forgive as He has forgiven us. To surrender what we cling to in order to grab hold of Him. Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us, “...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that You desire for me to flourish in life. Help me to let go of everything that hinders me from following You so that I do not give the devil a foothold in my life.