By Joe
Slater
The song is right – burdens really are
lifted at Calvary! Our Savior Himself invited, “Come to Me, all you who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus didn’t shed
His blood and die on the cross so you could carry your sin around like a ball
and chain for the rest of your life. He offers rest!
Jesus made a point of saying “heavy laden.”
He
extends
His grace to those who have committed “big” sins as well as transgressors in
less extreme ways. Even as life was draining from Him, Jesus lifted the burden
of a violent criminal who, only a short time before, had mocked Him. Jesus told
him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Sometime later Jesus lifted the burden of
Saul of Tarsus, a man who absolutely hated Him and was doing everything in his
power to destroy the church. Innumerable disciples of Jesus had suffered
arrest, torture, imprisonment, and even death at this man’s behest. So awful
were his crimes that he later referred to himself as the chief of sinners (1
Timothy 1:15). Yet Jesus lifted even Saul’s enormous burden of sin! “For this
reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all
longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting
life” (1 Timothy 1:16). If I may paraphrase, “If Jesus can save me (and He did)
then He can save anyone!”
Even before the cross, God’s people found
relief from sin because Christ’s blood reached back to them just as it reaches
forward to us. David’s burden made him feel lifeless and crushed until “I
acknowledged my sin to You . . . and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm
32:3-5).
So often we react to our sin with
self-loathing and beating ourselves up. While such responses are understandable,
they can never “fix” the problem! Only Jesus can do that.
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