Lay Your Burdens Down

My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Matthew 11:30

Every now and then I catch myself singing the lyrics of an old song: “Lay your burdens down, lay your burdens down.” Perhaps these words mean something to me because I have a tendency to carry my burdens.

There are endless types of burdens we can carry on this earth, whether they are the weights of sin we hang on to, or the heartache we feel caring for sick loved ones, or the burden of trying too hard to fix ourselves or our family members and make everyone happy.

But burdens are not my department, and they are not yours, either. God did not design our frail frames to bear them. In fact, He instructed us in Hebrews 12:1 to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” (NKJV).

Because of past surgeries, I have purposefully laid aside every physical weight, even changed my pocketbook size and decreased the number of coins I carry in it. Disciplining myself this way has been a necessary nuisance, but it has also been a very visible reminder of God’s command to lay aside what weighs me down. When I am overloaded from taking on too many to-dos or want-to-dos, I grow impatient with myself and others, especially with my sweet family, whom I love most.

This weight becomes a barometer for Holy Spirit air pressure. It is so easy to fall short of God’s standards, and sometimes it feels good for a second to “let it all out.” But sin always has consequences, just like decreasing barometric pressure indicates that a storm is on the way. God’s Holy Spirit zeroes in on the fact that I am operating in my own weak state and reminds me I am as frail as dust and not designed to carry heavy loads. Let’s drop the physical burdens and the spiritual weights we’re carrying and give them to Jesus. He will restore our hearts by lightening them.

Think about what weighs you down. Pick one burden right now and imagine yourself laying it at Jesus’ feet. Leave it for Him to handle. Then commit to walk in His lightness the rest of the day.