“Drop It!”
When I was a kid in elementary school, every year the school would have a big yo-yo assembly. Yes you heard me right. The good people at Duncan yo-yo would make a donation to the school in the form of % of yo-yo sales if they would be allowed to do an anti-drug yo-yo presentation.
So the presentation consisted of various yo-yo demonstrations performed by professional yo-yoers. And while they would tell us not to do drugs, they would demonstrate all sorts of yo-yo tricks with various types of yo-yos. They would throw the yo-yo down and it would stay down for a while. But then with seemly no effort it would jump back into the hands of the pro yo-yoer. The yo-yos would do amazing tricks and some would even make sounds and flashes of light! And always they would return into the hands of the performer. It was amazing! I was always so thankful that they would send a flyer home a week ahead of time because I was itching to do those same tricks with the new yo-yo I would buy with the money my parents sent with me.
The problem of course is that it was never as easy as the pros made it look. I could through the yo-yo down but it would always jump right back up into my hands. And if I threw it down real hard, it would snap up and crack my hand with pain.
This morning’s scripture lesson is full of inspiration and hope. 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Here is Jesus Calling to us to come to the cross. Lay down our burdens and sins. Accept his forgiveness and allow His Spirit to guide us through life. His words are comforting and encouraging. Jesus promises to forgive and forget our sins. It is a wonderful promise. If only we could believe it and forgive ourselves as well.
Scripture tells us again and again, that God loves us despite our sinful natures. The Old Testament is filled with examples of sinful men, whom God forgives time and time again, Saul, David, Cain, and Abraham to name a few. In the New Testament, He becomes human to sacrifice himself for all of us so that we can be saved.
Our God has always bee a Loving God of forgiveness and second chances. The problem is we are not. We have a hard time believing that God could love a sinner as bad as we believe we are. So we try to drop our sins at the foot of the cross. But we have a problem leaving it there. Like a yo-yo it keeps springing back into our lives and our minds.
We are told that God loves us. But we convince ourselves that God certainly could not love a person like me. Perhaps if I cleaned up my own act, Stopped doing the bad things I do then, God might accept me. So we lay down our sins but self-doubt and poor self-image make us pick and pick it back up again.
This is a very human thing to do. We feel we must earn God’s love. Even though we have been told time and time again that he loves us just the way we are.
Now, yes as a Christian we must change our ways. We are called to a process of becoming more and more Christ like as our faith grows stronger. Yes we are to begin the process of living into God’s will for our lives. And it takes a lot of faith and hard work to make it happen. The difference is that God accepts us as we are and then walks with us and supports us through the process of changing from the inside out.
God knows that we are unable to earn our way back to Him. So he took care of that. And now that we have entered into a relationship with Him, He will help us to change. The deeper our faith, the more influence His Spirit has on our lives. And slowly Together, we begin to work on changing our lives for the better.
God’s Spirit and our church family in a team effort help us to drop our sins at the feet of the cross and leave them there. When Jesus saved Mary Magdalene from being stoned, he told her to go and sin no more. But He didn’t just say the words and abandon her. He walked along side her. And because of this, despite her past, she is revered as one of the most faithful women in the Bible.
Laying down our past sins is never easy. But we do not do it alone. And sometimes, even though we have faith. We find ourselves picking up the guilt from those past sins again. And of course we have to deal with the world. And the world has never been a forgiving place.
Let’s face it society may never truly forgive. Sometimes the best we can hope for I that they forget. Every yea it seems I have to warn our children to think about what they do. One moment of Stupid can ruin their life forever. In the movie “O Brother Where are Thou? There is a line that states, “You may be square with the Lord but the state of Tennessee is not so forgiving.”
But not to worry, living a faithful life usually keeps us out of such trouble in the first place.
So what about today? What about us right now? Have we heard the words that Jesus loves us but just can’t accept it? Have we tried to drop our sins at the cross only to find ourselves picking them up again?
Right now, I can tell you that Jesus accepts you just as you are. Yes, change is expected, but you don’t have to do it alone. Right now right here, Jesus Can and will send His Spirit into your heart and will help you to drop your sin at the cross. Then that same Spirit will help you to not pick it up again.
So I invite you to the altar. 28 “Come to the altar, all you who are weary and burdened, and Christ will give you rest. 29 Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him, for He is gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
And as you come I also invite the Church to come up at the same time because Christ has put us together as a family. And as a family we share each other’s burdens. We hold each other accountable and support one another as we begin the process of becoming like Christ.
Please come as we as the church pray for each other.
Gracious Lord, we hold onto sin in our lives. We hear the words of forgiveness but we have trouble accepting them. We try to lay down our burdens only to pick them up in times of weakness and self-doubt. Please Lord; send your Spirit into our hearts again. Renew our souls. And help us to support one another as a Church family so that we can leave our sins at the cross and never pick them up again. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
