1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian PEACE pt2 | Page 11

The apostle Paul had a similar experience when God laid on him a burden for the Gentile
nation. Up until that particular time, he had been a proud Jewish man, but God broke his heart
as He showed him the calling for his life, which was to take the Gospel to a nation that, up
until then, he had had no time for.
Both of these men, I’m sure, would testify to a drastic loss of peace as they came to face the
reality of God’s burden for mankind.
If this is true of Nehemiah and Paul, and indeed so many other characters in the Bible, should
it not be true of you and me as well. God’s burden for mankind is an overwhelming one, and
one of the highest privileges thatwe have as Christians is to share with God the carrying of His
burden. Let me put it to you like this, Matthew 11 v 29 – 30 are two very well quoted verses,
[Jesus speaking] “Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” As I read those
verses, it suddenly struck me that Jesus speaks of a burden that He gives to us when we give
to Him our burden of sin. The picture I have in my mind is simply this, that when you arrive at
the cross, carrying your heavy load of sin, Jesus takes that load and, according to this verse, He
replaces that burden with another one; a burden that is light, a burden that is His. This
exchange of burdens that takes place at the cross, is one, I believe, that every Christian should
experience. God gives to us a diversity of burdens. For some He gives the burden to pray; for
others a burden for the lost, and still for others He gives the burden for those who suffer at
the hands of unjust people. May I be so bold as to ask you, what is the burden that God has
laid on your heart? Might I be even bolder to say that if you have not got one, my suggestion is
you go back to the cross where you gave to Jesus your burden of sin and retrieve the burden
that you should be carrying.
It is this carrying of God’s burden for mankind that should become the mission of our lives.
When we get under the burden of God to assist Him in carrying the burden for the salvation of
mankind, I believe that by doing so, we will fulfil the purpose of God for our lives. I cannot
help but think that this is indeed a fair exchange, that the weight of our sin burden is removed
from our exhausted shoulders and replaced by a burden that Jesus refers to as being light.
That is the least that we can do as an act of gratitude and worship to a God who is so amazing.
Prayer Thought: My prayer for you today is that if you do not carry a burden of God that He
would lay one on you, that He would impassion you through a broken heart, to minister into a
dark and broken world and to be the hands, the feet and the voice that He needs in order for
Him to fulfil His mission.
See you in church.