Heavy Laden? He Ain't Heavy!

HEAVY LADEN? WEAR THE GARMENT?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

DUAL TASKING OFTEN BRINGS HEAVINESS…

Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

Seems we are trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We are carrying heavy loads that we are not designed to carry.

Seems each person is laden with two heavy bags. One bag is worn in front of the person. This bag is full of very heavy, hard rocks. The weight of this bag is almost crushing. This bag worn in the front is the faults and failures of every person you know. You can see these heavy rocks in watching people daily. So you pick up the failures and faults of others and carry them in your bag. This is so sad.

There is a second heavy bag that you wear on your back. This bag’s heavy and hard rocks are of your own doing. But the problems of the backpack is you can’t see it. It will break your back but you ignore your own burdensome loads and daily carry it complaining and complaining. All you have to do is unload your bag… no, you seem to love to carry your stress load.

HURT? MIGHT I ADD A PREACHER’S PERSPECTIVE TO START THIS LESSON? BE KIND TO EVERY PERSON. PERHAPS YOU DO NOT KNOW THE PROBLEMS AND THE BATTLES OTHERS ARE FACING.

A preacher friend of mine was having some self-doubts and fears he was facing. There was a rather large family that had attended the church for many years. The woman decided to leave the church and told the pastor to his face. This church is dead. We have found a very “SPIRITUAL CHURCH” on the other side of town and we will use our influence to take as many as we can to this “VERY SPIRITUAL CHURCH” where the pastor is so loving! My husband does not agree but we are leaving this dead church.

The pastor cried all the way home. These people were the best givers in the church. Is God telling me I should leave the ministry? Their NEGATIVE SEEDS along with his personal doubts MAGNIIFIED the pastor’s insecurities. One night after supper the lady called and asked to speak to the pastor. The lady was crying real hard and begged the pastor to please come over to their house, it was a terrible problem. PLEASE, PLEASE PASTOR --- COME OVER TO OUR HOUSE WE NEED YOU DESPERATELY.

The pastor said I have a recommendation for you. WHY DON’T YOU CALL YOUR LOVING PASTOR? REMEMBER HE IS MUCH MORE SPIRITUAL THAN WE ARE. Hang up and call your “LOVING PASTOR, HE CAN HELP YOU!” The pastor hung up and told his wife about HOW THEY BEGGED HIM TO COME OVER AND HE RECOMMENDED CALLING THEIR PASTOR.

The next morning the hurt pastor went out in the yard and picked up the morning newspaper to read the headlines.

The newspaper brought the pastor to his knees on his front porch. The old church member had loaded the gun and shot and killed his wife, killed the 3 kids and then killed himself. 5 deaths? The “loving pastor and the spiritual church” had taken a terrible toll. LIFE AND MINISTRY CAN GET VERY HEAVY.

COULD BEING HEAVY LADEN AND BURDENED WITH MANY CARES BE MALIGNANT, A DEADLY CANCER THAT CAN BRING DEATH TO OUR GROWTH, HOPES, PEACE AND JOY?

*MALIGNANT: the presence of cancerous cells that have the ability to invade and spread to destroy and grow. FATAL.

*HEAVY: great weight, difficult to move, dense, hard to carry, intense.

*LADEN: burdened by cares and worries, little support, heavily loaded, weighed down.

We can be physically laden, mentally laden and/or spiritually laden… we can’t carry it all at once?

WE WERE NOT DESIGNED TO CARRY HEAVY LOADS? THERE IS A MUD BOG CONTEST THAT IS FOLLOWED BY A ROUGH STEEP CLIMB UP A CLIFF?

We need a special vehicle for this rough ride. So we go into the Chevrolet show room and buy an expensive CORVETTE to win the contest. Wow. The CORVETTE was not designed for mud bogs and cliff climbing. Can we agree to that? The Corvette was designed for smooth, fast roads? The Heavenly Father never designed you to carry heavy burdens for long periods of time.

DO WE HAVE FULL JOY TANKS? WHO’S JOY? We were designed to love, walk in peace and to be full of joy. Our joy is to be full and complete… not our joy but HIS JOY… HEAVINESS IS A JOY KILLER… ARE WE WALKING THROUGH HARD TRYING TIMES… DOES THE PANDEMIC KILL OUR JOY?

Psalm 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.