Is life weighing you down?
Once, while I was traveling halfway across the world to share the gospel, I found myself in the Northern Ural Mountains, preparing to depart. As I was getting ready to leave, some friends came up to me with two farewell gifts.
These gifts were given with such kindness and love, and they happened to be two bear sculptures made of lava rock. Now, if you’ve flown before, you know that weight limits are strict. It’s challenging enough to pack within weight limits on the way there—but it’s even harder on the way back when you’ve usually accumulated even more things.
So there I was, holding these thoughtful, 25 to 30-pound gifts, wondering, How am I going to get back home with all this extra weight?
This moment reminds me of how many of us go through life. How am I going to make it with all this weight? With all this excess baggage weighing me down?
Here are a few things I’ve noticed, both in others and in myself, when life starts feeling heavy:
- You lose your joy when you forget who you are and who’s with you.
God’s word promises us that He is with us—better yet, He’ll never leave us. Jesus paid the price to lift our burdens, if only we would trust Him. No matter our circumstances, we have access to His incomprehensible peace, joy, and comfort.
Have we allowed ourselves to forget that the Great I Am is with us? Have we forgotten that we’re children of God, with access to the very throne of God?
- We often lose sight of where we’re going.
Sometimes we let the weight of life bog us down so much that we forget our ultimate goal: to one day stand face-to-face with our Creator. One day we’ll be in God’s glory every single day, and that hope alone gives us supernatural strength, even in our darkest hours. The apostle Paul spoke often of God’s glory that he knew would one day be fully revealed. Paul found joy because he kept his eyes on the end goal, knowing that his present troubles were only temporary and would bear fruit.
And we don’t have to wait until heaven to experience that glory—we have the Spirit of the living God within us right here and now.
- You forget where you came from.
God has already done miraculous things in our lives. We were once lost but are now found, once in darkness but now living as children of the Kingdom of Light. Some of us have been freed from depression, loneliness, or fear and now live with joy and hope.
Friend, we serve the same loving, miracle-working God.
Let’s not allow the weight of life to make us forget who we are and who our God is! Ask yourself: are you carrying too much? Is it time to unload your suitcase and give the excess baggage to God? We weren’t meant to do life alone, but with God and others. Give it all over to Him.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30
