Are you heavy laden? These days most people are heavy laden, aren't they? We go through life heavy laden with the various burdens placed upon us by our existing in a world ruled by sin. It is a world ruled by sin, make no mistake about it.
1Jn 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
The devil offered to give to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, all the glory of them…. The devil couldn't have made these offers unless they were histo give. Jesus didn't refute the devil's claim of kingdom ownership of the world, He told Him that He would only worship God. Jesus knew that there was a prince of this world who was evil.
Joh_12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
The prince of this world is the devil, he rules this world. Few compared to the many choose to live in this devil ruled world and yet claim only to worship God in all truth. Satan wants every single human being to be one of his subjects.
The heavy laden feeling we endure starts when we are very young and begin to comprehend life has hardships, life has pain, life has confusion, that life is unfair. As we grow older the burdens change, that heavy laden weight alters. The weight of our living in this sin drenched world varies for each of us. My burden isn't yours, and likewise, your burden isn't mine. We are given moments of joy that supersede the pains and those glimpses of joy give us a desire for more joy, less burden. We seek the joy and things that negate that joy which burden us. In TRUTH and I mean this…in TRUTH there is only ONE joy that should outshine all other joys, and that is the joy we find in our heavenly treasure. Our heavenly treasure cannot be stripped from us ever. Not a single thing on earth can take our heavens treasure from us so is there any wonder at all that we need to truly believe in the reality of that heavenly treasure?
Christ is our heavenly treasure. The good news of salvation through Christ is our heavenly treasure. The HOPE of eternal life in Christ, HOPE in the world to come, not this world, is our heavenly treasure.
Abraham thousands of years ago lived with this hope… considering himself a pilgrim on this earth.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Dying in faith, we need to live in faith, embracing the promises of God now.
Laying our treasures up in heaven NOW.
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
We are heavy laden, but we can find REST in Jesus Christ, making Him a reality in our lives. Our joy NOW needs to be the HOPE of heaven- Jesus Christ, now. We can lay the world's weight down now as we pick up heaven's hope, heaven's treasure, heaven's joy.
The burdens are going to hit us, day after day. The huge irritations and the very small irritations, the agonies, the pains, the horrors are all a part of the life we live and we must seek Jesus' joy! We need to ask ourselves when the weight of the world is tearing us down, if we are living for Jesus' joy. When we cry out our pain may we cry out for Jesus' joy. Jesus' joy is FUTURE HOPE, OTHERWORLDLY HOPE. Jesus' joy is KNOWING our joy is in the promises we have yet to see and not lamenting having realized promises now because we know that sin will rule this world until our Savior returns.
God help us to make Jesus' Joy real in our everyday existence. All through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now and forever! May God's will be done!
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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