The Utopia of Burden Bearing…..

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 N.I.V. This passage indicates that any and all (who’s left out of all?-no one. This is one of what I call Ultimate words – there’s no off ramp to it, no exception) can come to Christ to find the perfect rest we ALL seek. That’s good news in anybody’s book!! You see, biblical rest is not only something we do for our body, soul, and spirit, but it leads us into a form of worship and gratitude that is well beyond what we typically think of as rest. Caution: This rest, once experienced, can become very addictive!! I struggle to define and explain what I am experiencing in this rest. I’ve heard people talk about this rest all my life but never experienced it until about 3 years ago. I was in the throes of carrying my burden (phortion-pronounced - for-tee'-on) like the good soldier I am, when in an agonizing prayer time I said to God, “I’m so tired of this…..surely you can help me, please?” He came back with “what do you want me to do?” I said, “I don’t really know Lord, but I do know that you can help me.” Now, this next part is so hard to describe. I couldn’t articulate to the Lord even what my need was but HE KNEW!! I’m weeping 😢as I write this from the realization that He loves me so much that even when I can’t tell Him my problem , HE KNOWS!! Something happened that moment that I just can’t convey to you. It was a rapture beyond description. Outside of my salvation, I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. It was GLORIOUS! It was FREEDOM ON STEROIDS! IT WAS LIBERATING TO THE MILLIONETH POWER!! IT WAS HEAVEN-ESK! I know that this burden sharing thing is a Biblical concept, but I was heartened to think that it also is a basic human response, put there by our Creator God. Think of the many stories we have seen on T.V. about one person “rescuing” someone from a life threatening (drowning/ fire/etc) situation and they didn’t even know that person, yet they risked their own life to save another. Our first responders do this day in and day out! There are untold stories of military men/women in war who have done extraordinary things even when they themselves were wounded and hindered. But that didn’t stop them from helping their brother in arms. Why? Because “He's my brother/sister He/she ain't heavy, he's/she’s my brother/sister! Now, you put the power of the Word of God behind that and BINGO! You’ve got a productive winner!!! We tend to think of burden sharing as a negative; something that we are “ordered” to do. “Do I have to?” “I don’t want to” “I’m too busy/ I’ve got other things to do.” On and on our selfish excuses flow from our mouths as if there were no end to them. We probably need to have a “time out” in the corner here to seriously consider our attitude on this! This burden sharing is not a “burden”…..it’s another b-word….BLESSING!!