The Burden Bearer - Martin Wiles

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. Isaiah 53:4 NLT

For the first eighteen years of my life, my parents assisted me with burdens. From teaching me responsibility to getting me jobs to tending to my basic needs, they helped me carry the burdens of growing up. Since then, there have been other occasions when they helped me bear unwanted burdens: when I lost a job, when a relationship failed, when a child rebelled, and when my only car broke down.

Others have also helped me carry burdens. Church members who’ve come to my side when death took a loved one, grandparents who helped me purchase tires for a vehicle, a child who forked over hard-earned money to help me pay a bill, total strangers who helped me free my truck from a snow drift, and a spouse who helps me bear every burden that surfaces.

The ancient prophet told of how the coming Messiah would help bear burdens. He would not blow in on a white horse and conquer Israel’s enemies. Instead, he would bear burdens the first time and conquer at his Second Coming.

The greatest burden Jesus Christ helps carry is sin. We need a burden bearer since we’re born with a sinful nature. On the cross, Jesus bore the sins of humanity. Though paid for in full, the results of what he accomplished are only effective when we ask him to apply the results of what he did to our lives. Forgiveness doesn’t automatically happen.

When we ask Jesus to carry our sin burden, he not only carries but also removes and throws the sin as far as the East is from the West. He also shoves them into the uttermost depths of the ocean. In other words, he eliminates the penalty for this burden: eternity apart from him.

Unfortunately, life also has other burdens that result from living in a world tainted by sin. We also need help bearing these burdens. While others help us shoulder these burdens, only God can do it consistently and permanently. Others will disappoint us—not necessarily intentionally but simply because they are human.

Though the help of others is wonderful and needed, the help of an all-powerful and all-knowing God is crucial. He is the burden bearer who will never leave or forsake us. Let him bear your burdens.

Father, thank you that there is no burden so great that you can’t bear it for me. 

Tweetable: Who is your burden bearer? 

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