Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
How is your spiritual posture this morning?
Are you free and loose and able to stand upright?
Or do you slump under the weight of guilt and shame?
DO your shoulders ache from carrying around bitterness and anger that you just can't seem to let go of?
God never created you to be crushed by the emotional baggage that we all seem to carry around at times.
He created you for relationship with Him.
I like the way this passage in Matthew reads in the Message Bible.
Come to Me. Get away with Me and work with Me---watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
Notice that it said "rhythms" not rhythm. That tells me that there are ebbs and flows to this walk with Christ. That there will be times of immense freedom and joy, but, at the same time, there will be seasons when we will have to stand tall in the Grace of God to face the winds of change and life. I can't walk out such times if I am hindered by spiritual baggage that is so easily picked up when I allow my focus to move away from Jesus
. A little unforgiveness here.....a bit of jealousy there.....put a little self-pride in our pockets so no one will see.....couple of bags of unbelief because our prayers didn't get answered the way we thought they should.....and before you know it we are again being crushed under the weight of a complete set of spiritual Samsonite. Not the way God intended us to live. To make matters worse, we put on an entire suit of religiosity so no one will notice our struggle.
So how do we remain free?
I think maybe the answer is found in Psalm 37.
TRUST in the LORD, and DO good. Dwell (put down your roots and receive your mail) in the land (The place God has put you. In other words, learn the art of being content), and Feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
Cease from anger and Forsake wrath. Do not Fret ---it only causes harm.
Did you catch all the exercises God has provided us with so that our spiritual posture may be good and healthy? Trust....Do...Dwell....Feed...Delight....Commit....Trust (again)...Cease....Forsake....do not fret.
Now, let's get real. God knows that we struggle with trusting and not fretting. That we have a huge problem with committing our ways to Him. That is why, like in Step# 3 of the twelve Steps, we turn will and life over to His care. We turn our life over once at the time of our salvation. We turn will over sometimes 50 times a day. It is a moment by moment decision to not live life through our old thoughts and ways. We are learning a new way to live.
We have bad spiritual posture when we quit trusting God with every area of our life.
Finances.....
Relationships....
Health, both physical and emotional.....
God wants to strengthen us so that we can walk in a manner that is worthy of the call we have received from Him.
God on you....
mb
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