It’s the first Monday of the New Year.  This is the time we are told to get serious about our goals and resolutions!  According to a recent study, about 60% of us make resolutions, but only 8% are successful in achieving them!  The top three resolutions should be of no surprise: 

Diet or eat healthier 

Exercise more 

Lose weight 

As I get older, I appreciate the importance of healthy eating and exercise.  It’s no longer a matter of vanity but rather a desire to be heathy and able to (physically) serve the Lord, my family, and those around me.  But as important as a healthy weight may be, I’ve been thinking of the importance of a different kind of "weight" loss: releasing the weight of our burdens.  What weight we could lose if we truly gave our burdens, worries, disappointments, fears, and failures to the Lord!

Psalm 55:22 instructs, “Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you.”  Similarly, we are told to give our burdens to Him in 1 Peter 5:6-7 by casting all our cares upon Him, knowing that He cares for us.  

The weight we cast upon someone is proportionate to their ability to carry it, isn’t it?  How many times have we allowed our children to “help” carry something when in fact we were the ones holding all of the weight, lest they stumble or be crushed beneath it?  We can rest the FULL weight of our burdens on the Lord because He is able to hold it.  The secret, however, is in knowing the full extent of His care for us.

What burden are you carrying into the new year that is weighing you down, making you heavy with dread, guilt, or concern?  Do you know - really know - that He cares for you?  If not, meditate upon His Word, ask the Spirit to convince you of His love, and look to the cross where His care for you was fully displayed.  

If you do know of His love, respond to His care by giving Him your cares. He is the only One who can adequately carry the weight of your burdens.  This involves responding in faith to Him, trusting that He cares for you and will take care of you.  It involves turning every worry into prayer. It involves accepting the disappointments of life, knowing that He is working out His perfect plan despite your ability to see it.  It means allowing your fears to drive you to Him instead of keeping you from Him.  It means acknowledging your failures but trusting that He is working in you to conform you more into His image.

Be encouraged by this hymn from the early 1900’s:

If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird—
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Refrain:

Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there;
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out—
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don’t forget that God in Heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through—
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He’ll go with you to the end—
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Maintaining a good weight physically not only benefits us personally but allows us to benefit those around us by being the healthiest we can be.  Likewise when we lose the weight of our burdens, we benefit personally. However, we also experience the freedom to live fully unto the glory of God, by the grace of God, for the good of those around us, without excess weight slowing us down.  As Karen would remind us, echoing the words found in Zechariah 4:6, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty,” it is not by the perspiration of our own works but by the inspiration of the Spirit of God!  Let us lose our unnecessary weight by giving our burdens to our compassionate and caring Savior, trusting that He will indeed take good care of us, His beloved children.  

If you have not already joined the Women’s Bible Study (which will resume tomorrow, January 8th), please pray about doing so!  We are studying the Gospel of Luke: Jesus Cares.  What a perfect way to start 2019: studying His Word together and growing in the knowledge of His care for us!  You may register online at women.ccob.org or in person; for more information please visit our website.  

May God richly bless you,
Cara Blondo

(on behalf of Karen Pulley)