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PROGRAM D-8203
Let me ask you a question: Do you feel like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders sometimes? The truth is, God never intended for his children to carry heavy burdens day after day. My good news for you is that If it’s not light, it’s not right!
Our burdens fall into three broad categories: Guilt and cares from the past, worries and concerns about the present, and fear of the future. Past, present and future.
Think about your burdens. How many of them are a part of your past? Are you carrying things around that should be behind you? Philippians 3:13-14 says “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Isaiah 43:18-19 tells us to “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”
One reason you may be carrying a heavy burden is because you haven’t yet committed the past to the Lord. You may have endured great hurts in your past or your past may be full of regrets. However, if you’re a believer, Jesus has the power to take that burden from your past and exchange it for his peace.
Is some of your burden because of the future—because you don’t know what the future holds? Remember Jeremiah 29:11: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Yesterday—with all its cares and frets, all its pains and hurts, all its faults, mistakes and blunders—has passed forever beyond our recall. We cannot undo an act that we wrought nor unsay a word we said. Yesterday was ours. It is now God’s!
And tomorrow—with all its possible adversities, its potential perils, its unknown paths and events—is as far beyond our mastery as yesterday. It is a day of God’s. It will be ours, but it is not yet.
Will you put down those heavy burdens from yesterday and tomorrow, and exchange them for Jesus’ burden which is light? Remember, if it’s not light, it’s not right. He never intended for you to carry that heavy burden, and he’s waiting for you to give it up to him.