How often have your kids pawned their load off on you to carry for them? A family vacation to Disney World comes readily to mind, along with the distinct feeling of being a pack-mule. The kids were much younger then and they tired easily. It was difficult for them to carry their loads for very long. I didn't expect them to ~ I knew their limitations full well.
As a child of God, is it your practice to give your burdens to your Heavenly Father for Him to carry?
There are times I expect my kids to carry their own stuff ~ the necessary essentials to get them through their day. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, there are some things we are meant to carry. But we also have a tendency to pile on things we shouldn't. I want to learn the practice of what I'm going to call burden transfer. The act of transferring the unnecessary burdens I tend to carry in error in exchange for the cross I am commanded to carry.
Unloading the extraneous creates space for Jesus to spread out - increase - so that His strength is predominate.
The loads we are to cast off are those that are spiritually unhealthy. Burdens of:
As a child of God, is it your practice to give your burdens to your Heavenly Father for Him to carry?
There are times I expect my kids to carry their own stuff ~ the necessary essentials to get them through their day. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, there are some things we are meant to carry. But we also have a tendency to pile on things we shouldn't. I want to learn the practice of what I'm going to call burden transfer. The act of transferring the unnecessary burdens I tend to carry in error in exchange for the cross I am commanded to carry.
Unloading the extraneous creates space for Jesus to spread out - increase - so that His strength is predominate.
The loads we are to cast off are those that are spiritually unhealthy. Burdens of:
Unforgiveness
Doubt of our own forgiveness
What If's
If Only's
What Might Be
What Could Have Been
Fear of the Unknown {gulp}
The Uncontrollable, Out-Of-My-Hands Things
And anyone who does not carry his crossand follow me
We all have a cross to carry, but our Lord will provide the strength to bear up under it. Carrying the cross in the attitude of Christ is not easy but it is not to be compared with the burdens of our own choosing. They have a tendency to crush and restrict the Spirit within us. I am fond of what Thomas a' Kempis once said in this regard; "Carry the cross patiently and with perfect submission and in the end it shall carry you."
My Wonderful Savior; Grant me discernment to know what burdens I am to release, exchanging them for the ones you call me to carry. Amen.
2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: "Jesus must increase, I must decrease"
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Thank you for sharing your heart.