“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up
your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." – Luke 21:28
Roman soldiers were allowed to conscript Jewish
people to walk a mile with them in order to carry their burdens. Jesus told the
Christian Jews to walk two miles with them instead, in order to exhibit a
living testimony of God’s love (Matthew 5:41).
God put us in His family, so we always have someone to go the extra mile with
us. We can also help one another when anxious thoughts burden our hearts,
because a kind word always cheers us up (Proverbs 12:25).
Jesus is our ultimate burden bearer. He refreshes the
weary and satisfies the despairing soul (Jeremiah 31:25). He wants us to cast all of our cares upon Him,
because He always cares for us (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7). As sinners we are burdened with a load of guilt that
is impossible to bear alone (Psalm 38:4).
Jesus tells us to lay our burdens down and to take up His yoke instead, because
it is easy and light (Mathew 11:30).
When we come to Christ, it is easy for us to trust
Him for our eternal destiny. However, trusting Him in the daily drudgery of
life is a bit harder. We believe God is able, but we struggle with believing
that He wants to meet our earthly needs (Mark 9:24). This concern causes anxiety and worry to form in our
soul, which affects our spirit and body as well. When we place our cares in the
heart of God, we trust Him to work out all the details for our ultimate good (Romans
8:28). God’s answer is not always what
we really wanted, but He continually works out everything even better than we
planned.
Paul instructs us to thank God in faith for the
answer to our prayer, rather than to pray with apprehension from a place of
discouragement (Philippians 4:6). As
we view our earthly needs through the lense of eternity, we find that fewer
issues really bother us anymore. We discover an excitement and expectancy in
each new morning, wondering what God has planned for us. We no long attempt to
control life, because we know that the Lord cares about every aspect of our
life. Jesus told us not to even worry about what we will eat or wear, but to
seek Him and His Kingdom instead. When we do, it opens the door for Him to
shower us with blessings (Matthew 6:25,34).
In these troubled end times, I always thank God that
He gave us another normal day to experience life. Someday, maybe soon, we will
wake up to a collapsed economy, chaos in the streets, governmental indecision
and general insecurity in every facet of life. But when this happens, we can
look up, because Jesus promises that our redemption is very near (Luke
21:28). The Lord will soon come for His
bride, who has chosen to live a holy life (Ephesians 5:17). There is no place in heaven for sinners, so repent
today and chose to live your life in service to our King.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, remind us to keep our faith in Your
faithfulness during times of deprivation and trouble. When life bears down on
us, stresses us out and buries us with concerns, help us to change our focus
from looking at our problems, to seeking the Problem Solver. This change in
focus allows us to breathe deeply in the midst of turmoil and to smile with
confidence in You, our living Lord. In this way, we enter Your rest (Hebrews
4:11), and are able to hear the Spirit’s
direction moment by moment throughout our life (Galatians 5:16, 25; Romans
8:14).
Thought for the Day:
God’s perfect love chases all our fears out of our
heart and fills every nook and cranny with faith in His faithfulness (1 John
4:18).