Worship Wednesday - To Be Burdened or Not To Be Burdened?

Belay Gebru, from Hope For The Fatherless in Ethiopia, was at CPC on Sunday. In case you missed his sermon, you can watch it here...

Belay inspires me, like no other, to shift my perspective to what is possible with the Lord. One story he told us at lunch after church on Sunday challenged me even more than his efforts to end the orphan crisis in Ethiopia. Evidently, a few months back, there was a crazy busy intersection on his commute each day, not far from where he lived. One day he decided he was going to help solve the problem. So he got a safety vest and asked his wife to let him out at the intersection. After a couple of weeks of directing traffic at the intersection, he said that people began to understand what he was doing and things began to improve! Soon enough, the government ended up placing a traffic light and the problem was solved!

One man saw a problem, had a burden to fix it, acted on that burden, and the problem was solved! I want to be a man who has a burden to help like that. I want to be a man who takes action to solve problems like that.

This got me thinking a little about Matthew 11:28. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."?

I usually read this verse with the interpretation that if I am feeling burdened or "heavy-laden" as another translation reads, and I come to God, He will take that burden from me. However, while I do believe that the Lord wants freedom for us, I don't necessarily think that He wants to free us from our burdens. In fact, I think He allows us to feel burdened to draw us to Him.

Having a burden is a good thing. That means that we are feeling something. Carrying a burden (on our own) is a bad thing. Carrying our own burden is prideful, exhausting, and will eventually wear us out. The truth is that God wants us to feel burdened and then bring that burden to Him.

When we feel burdened, bring those burdens to God, and ask Him to move, we are open ourselves to see the power of God! So many of us (myself included) try to take too much action and control on our own. We make terrible Gods.

This week, I encourage you to pray for a burden. Ask God to give you eyes to see something that hurts Him. Then, when you feel the weight of that burden, come to Him. He will give you rest. He will renew your strength. He will fuel your passion if it aligns with His heart. Then take action and see His power flow through you!!