Today’s Word: “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.” (Proverbs 12:25). When I came home from work last night, my wife seemed happy. You know, the kind of joy you get when you win something unexpectedly. Her shoulders were bobbing side to side like a celebration you would see in the National Football league, and her eyes were sparkling. With my curiosity raised, I wondered what triggered this welcomed emotional response. Well it didn’t take long for her to inform me. With a deep breath and a full smile, she pointed at the large bag she carries with her when she leaves the house. She squealed in excitement and proclaimed, “It’s light!” I didn’t immediately understand her joy because I was still waiting to see what she had won. But there was nothing in the bag. She then continued to boast about her bag. She said things like, “Now it’s so light I can lift my bag with one finger.”
It was then I remembered how much “stuff” she had been carrying in her bag. I would estimate that sometimes it approached 20 pounds or more. Yet when I lifted it to share in my wife’s exhilaration, it only weighed around 3 pounds. I now understood her joy. Jesus teaches us saying, “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) And Peter teaches us in 1 Peter 5:7 to, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Now when we apply both of these scriptures to our lives, we find that our Savior want to swap yokes with us. He wants us to cast our cares on Him and He wants to place His yoke on us.
This should bring us great joy, for His burden is light, amen! Sadly, we often find ourselves carrying around our heavy loads. “It’s my ‘stuff’ right?” However, the longer we go without shedding our loads onto the Savior, the more overpowering our loads become. The Word for today is that we are to carry nothing of our own. For it is impossible to carry Christ and our burdens. Therefore, choose Christ! Let us take time today to shed every worry, every concern, and every situation we face. Would you join me in laying them on our Savior, Jesus Christ. And as we do, we will begin to feel the same light-footed joy my wife experienced as she spun around dancing; enjoying the “newness” of her light load. I pray that the Proverb will ring true, as our hearts are made glad through the goodness of Christ. For Christ is the Living Word, and it is this Living Word, “the Bible” that we are called to bear on our hearts. And what a light burden He is.