..especially the burden of sin.
April 20, 2009 (Monday)
Sin is a burden. Of course, Satan does not present it in that ugly light. He tells us it’s all fun and games. “You only get one shot at life,” he says, “so grab all the pleasure you can find.” Or something like that.
The truth about sin is that it wears a beautiful mask to hide a hideous face. It’s a burden. A popular hymn asks, “Would you be free from your burden of sin?” There’s a good reason the writer of that hymn used those words. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 28:11 NIV). Christ is the burden-bearer. He wants to help you bear any and all of your burdens in life, but he especially wants to relieve you of the burden of sin. In fact, that’s his specialty.
John Bunyan wrote the allegory, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” in which he pictures a poor guy in search of help. Seems he has this heavy load on his back. His aim in life is to get rid of it. But there are many obstacles along the way. In this search, he has many experiences, and that’s what the book is about. Sin is presented as a burden that grows heavier each day, and haunts us at night. “Christian” (the pilgrim’s name) has one thing on his mind, and that is the removal of the burden.
He finally comes to a place called Calvary, and the sight of the cross causes the burden to be loosed from his back and tumble down a hill into a tomb. He marvels that the sight of the cross would relieve him of his awful burden. The thought moves him to tearful thanksgiving.
Take your burden to the Lord. If you really want to get rid of the burden of sin, he’s the one who can help. He paid the full penalty for all your sin when he died on the cross, and that payment can be applied to your spiritual account if you accept him as your Savior and Lord. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NIV). “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21 NIV).