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PROGRAM D-8204
Are you carrying burdens around with you all the time? It’s likely they’re burdens from your past, or burdens you’re borrowing from tomorrow. Those are the ones that get too heavy. I encourage you to remember that if your burden’s not light, it’s not right!
Let me remind you that you have but one day to work with—today. You can carry the burdens of just one day! It is when you willfully add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that you break down. Typically, it isn’t the experience of today that drives us mad, but rather the remorse for something that happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Yesterday and tomorrow are God’s. Leave them with him!
Jesus clearly told us to live in the present:
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)
If we rid ourselves of yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s fears, how do we deal with today? Here are two helpful verses:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (I Peter 5:7)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6)
Remember, Jesus has told us explicitly to come to him and exchange our heavy burdens for his light and easy one. He never intended for us to carry these heavy burdens from the past, present or future. How do we exchange? We do it by faith, by a choice to relinquish, by prayer, and by trusting in the God who has promised to carry our burdens for us. We also do it by bringing our thoughts into captivity and refusing to think about the negative, bad reports. Philippians 4:8 teaches us the importance of thinking correctly.
What it really comes down to is obedience. Are you willing to obey Jesus and exchange your heavy burdens for his? You may not feel anything when you go through the exchange process—faith is frequently without feelings. Do it anyway. Do it several times in the day, if you have to. Say it out loud: “I hereby exchange my burden for yours, Lord.” Write it on a piece of paper. Just do it.