The weight that I couldn't carry alone.

I experienced a wrecking in my life. I experienced God coming through my present suffering and bringing me to the light. I have experienced joy and freedom as there is no condemnation with Jesus. I have a tendency to think that Jesus is staring up above at me with a gavel in hand. Every time I mess up He is disappointed at me. I know that the love of Christ is not even possible to understand. The fact that God loved me so much to send His Son to die for me is something I can't even fully comprehend. My whole life I never really understood the seriousness of Easter. I think it's because you hear the story over and over again as a kid. Also, you're so excited for your Easter gifts that you kind of have a hard time focusing on what's really important. I never understood the true meaning of what Christ did for me until I felt the weight of sin overtake my soul. It was like a heaviness upon my chest and a burden that I carried with me daily. It was as if you attached chains to me while I was trying to walk through water with them strapped to my legs. I never understood it all until I realized that Jesus took my sins upon His back. He took the weight and the chains that held me down upon His back. He also took every single sin that happened in the past and the sin that is to come upon His shoulders. That weight that held me down was being lifted onto His back. The thing is, Christ was a man when this happened. Can you imagine being strapped to a cross and hanging by nails in your hands and feet. Christ decided that I was enough to die for. All those times the devil says I am not enough, Christ reminds me I am enough! He decided to not let sin takeover His life here on earth because He knew that one day He would die for me and you. He knew that His mission on earth was to die for our sins that weigh us down.

Isn't it so easy to get caught up in the holiday that we forget the true meaning of it all?

In Romans 8, Paul is talking about our present sufferings. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18, NIV). He knows that our present sufferings have no hold on us because there is eternity with Christ. There is eternity because of what Jesus did. There would be no chance of getting to heaven without Jesus. There would be no hope.

"For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently" (Romans 8: 24-25, NIV).

In our present sufferings and in our sin that weighs upon our back we must remember that Jesus took our sins that are to come and that we have done on His back. I learned recently that the reason God looked away from Jesus when He was on the cross was because Jesus was carrying our sin. God can't be near sin therefore He had to look away from His own Son because He was carrying our weight for us. God never left Jesus on that cross though. He was there waiting and I can't imagine what God must have felt to have His son die. I know He knew that Jesus was returning soon, but it must have been so hard for a Father to see. It must be so hard for our Father to see us sin. It must hurt for Him to see us fall off the right path. It was like we were running the race towards Him then suddenly something caught our eye and we fell of track again. The amazing thing is, God is ready to say, "okay my child, let's try this again." He is reaching His hand out to you right now waiting for you to take it. He is waiting with open arms for you to receive Him. He is a Father waiting for His child to return. Christ never leaves, it's you. It's our sin that separates us from God because God can't be near sin.

As you reflect on your life and see where God has pulled you through so many circumstances, remember that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

May you remember this Easter that the weight on your shoulders can be lifted if you repent and let that sin be nailed to the cross. Your sin is holding you down hoping you will return, but Christ is calling you to restoration. He is calling you to healing and freedom. Freedom that you are longing for as you feel as if the weight is getting too much to carry. Let Christ carry it for you and let Him be the One who sets you free.

I was reading my bible study last night called Me, Myself, and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild. She said, "who I am and what I struggle with are not the same thing." Who you are is not defined by the sin you have done. Who you are is made new in Christ. Your sins are washed clean by the blood Jesus. You are free indeed.

Let us not allow the busyness of the Easter celebration separate us from what this day is all about.

Side note: I was looking for the verse that said that there is no condemnation for those in Christ and here it is in Romans 8. I was planning on writing about the end of Romans 8 and I had no idea the verse I was searching for is right in the same chapter. God is good.