Heavy

They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. Matthew 23:4

If life has an idiom, this is it.

A bull session after the Christian seminar. As the set-up was set down, the service team were asked to gather by the leaders for a meeting. The ending of the seminar did not end their joy in serving but started their fulfillment for pouring precious hours to reach people for God. The heavenly burden on their shoulders was light by the grace of God’s strength. The event servants have been putting their hands and hearts on the line for about two weeks now, so the end of the seminar was a heave of relief and fruitfulness.

So they were astonished when a heavier burden was laid out by the leaders, “If you have ill feelings towards one another, negative thoughts in serving with one another, this is the time and place to let it out!”

This was really heavier on the serving people. When leaders assume members have ill feelings towards one another, they burden them. When people in position see that their followers are in a bad position where in fact not, it weighs down the members. Instead of a life giving atmosphere, burden giving was in the air.  These are the kind of burden shoulders can’t carry.

Leaders must share the light not darkness. Leaders must make heavy things light not making the light heavy. If you are leading, supervising, mentoring or parenting, do this. Avoid putting anger in hearts. Avoid planting dirt in hands. Avoid seeding guilt in minds. You can assign service matters to your members but do not assign unnecessary matters in their lives.

In this earthly life, every person will have to bear something on their shoulders. Don’t add what you are not willing to lift. Give life. Give light. Not heavy.

Burdened

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Luke 10:40

Martha was burdened. She was not burdened with serving. She was burdened with much serving.

That’s the keyword – much.

We find ourselves in Martha. Burdened with much serving.

When we put matters to our hands and don’t delegate to others. When we want to shine and don’t allow others to have their time. When we think highly of ourselves and look down on others. When we think we can do better and perceive others will make things worst. When we see ourselves as super and look at others as ordinary.

Serving God should give us joy and not burden. Serving Jesus should allow us to see God’s best and not put in us unwanted stress. Serving the church should give us push up not weigh us down.

May I suggest the following?

• Train people to do what you do.
• Delegate with confidence.
• Get people involved and accountable.
• Remember people should start somewhere, just like you did.
• Be reminded, the heart of a servant is more important than the work of a servant.
• Be a mentor not a tormentor.

When you have servants around you, don’t be burdened with much serving.

When Carrying Heavy Loads, Bend Your Knees

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

When carrying heavy load, bend your knees.

This is a sign I read from a church. It parallels lifting heavy loads physically and lifting heavy loads in our lives.  It’s hard to lift up a heavy load when you don’t bend your knees.  Normally, when you do not bend your knees when lifting heavy loads, chances are, you will have trouble with your back at the coming time.  Also, bending your knees gives you the upward strength towards lifting your heavy load.

It’s exact same thing in our lives. People must bend their knees when having heavy loads. To shape our knees ninety degrees and come to Jesus upon experiencing burdens.  Financial burdens, family burdens, health burdens, relationship burden,  work related burdens and other burdens which give us heavy steps in life.

“Come to me.” Jesus promotes. However, sometimes when we experience burden in life, we forget to come to Him.

We come to a human friend to express our stress.
We come to our bank account to see if our resources can be extended.
We come to our resume when having difficulty at our workplace.
We come to our support group when something failed or did not happen as planned.
We come to the best doctors to heal our decaying bodies.

We thought every burden can be made light when we have our knees unbended.  The more we allow our knees to be unbended, the more we feel the heavy load in our lives. Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:30).

Carrying heavy load? Bend your knees.  Come to Him.