“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV)

It’s been busy the last couple of months. Earlier this year we bought a house in the country. Our daughters have a love for horses so we wanted enough land for pasture and for the last 13 years we have lived with a highway in our backyard – we were ready to put city life behind us.

When moving day came we hired a couple of local guys to help us load our U-Haul with some of our heavier furniture. The day started with two men and about an hour into loading a third guy showed up. They spoke Spanish so I didn’t understand a word, but from the appearance and sound of their hissing laughter I suspected that guy #3 was an instigator; only later to confirm I was right.

There was this wooden horizontal filing cabinet located in my husband’s basement office. Near it was a pile of bricks that we used to secure the carpet atop the septic tank; an effort to dull the clinking sound when the pump would kick in to push water out. I remember that cabinet because I asked our moving guys to try it in every corner of my husbands new office, only for him to veto the decision of having it altogether. “Put that thing in the garage it’s junk,” he said, and those poor movers carried it (once again) out of the house and deposited onto the junk pile in the third stall of the garage.

Fast forward two months and it’s garbage day. As my husband and I went to pick up the cabinet and place it onto the truck, we struggled to lift it. I knew the cabinet was heavy, but I found that I wasn’t strong enough to help him. He opened the drawer to see if we could remove them and make the cabinet lighter when he found a brick right there in the middle of the empty drawer. Sure enough, Mr. Instigator was playing a joke on his friends and found humor in adding weight to the load. Some joke!

This brick reminded me of how I tend to “carry extra weight” in my life.  Weight that shows up in the form of guilt, worry, shame, anxiety, fear, fatigue, stress, pressure, deadlines, etc. Everyday brings it’s own “stuff” and what does the world do? Piles it on. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some funny joke. I’m the one who picks it up, takes it on and then goes to God with my “stuff” as if I expect him to fix it.

Well, he did.

Not only did He take it all, He gave it all – for me! For you! I love the verses in Matthew and am reminded that His burden is light. So I’m taking that brick off of my back and giving it to God; praising Him for giving me a better life.

We are so spoiled, we are so blessed
The presents are open, the house is a mess

The busy shopping season finally comes to an end
and the birth of a Savior inspires me to send
Christmas blessings to you and your family today,
reflecting on what is important and say…

That the real meaning and purpose for this day to be
Is that God sent His Son to save you and save me
Don’t take this for granted, it’s a serious event
Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven, be sure to repent

He came to this earth to save us from our sins,
in a world that is hopeless, heaven really does exist
If you are still reading and just got the chills
It’s because your heart you know that Christmas isn’t just frills

So take time to pause, question what you really believe
it’s not Santa or good works or religion to cleave
The decision is personal for each one of us
and there is no greater gift than Jesus, God’s Son!

Today’s Devotional: Deuteronomy 11

We have choices. We can chose to be blessed or we can chose to be cursed. I think we know the obvious desire when given those two options. That’s what Moses is saying in verse 26-28, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”

Pretty straight forward if you ask me. So why would anyone disobey God? Who would be so stupid as to bring a curse upon themselves? Answer: Me.

Obedience is hard and I’m stubborn and selfish. I have blogged about Prosperity Preachers and how deceiving it is that they promote the gospel as if the Christian life is the ticket out of hardship, pain, and struggles – when the opposite is true. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion waiting to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8) Non-believers are no threat to the devil, he has them right where he wants them. It’s the souls of the saved that are his target. Our salvation is Satan’s biggest threat, but nobody wants to sign up for a life of pain and strife.

You can argue that if we can’t get to heaven on works and good deeds, why would we have to struggle and endure pain and suffering to get to heaven? There are a lot of answers to that, but there are two I will highlight here:

1. Philippians 1:6-7, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.“

2. Colossians 3:9-11, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

Why do Christians suffer? So God is glorified for what He has done for us and help us to grow (process of being sanctified) in the likeness of God.

Obedience isn’t easy, but the blessing is the reward. Living each day without a conscious and deliberate focus on living a life of obedience is far more pain-staking than any temporary trials.

Today’s Devotion: Leviticus 20

Rules, rules, rules! I like rules that protect, but I hate rules that restrict. Why are we like that as humans? We want our cake and eat it too. That sin nature sure likes to lead us off the path of righteousness, doesn’t it?!

Confession: One law that I frequently break is the speed limit. I know speed limits are in place for a reason, but I’m usually running late, in a hurry or just want to get somewhere. I have had plenty of very friendly (and not-so-friendly) officers pull me over to remind me of what the law is. There are consequences for breaking the law, if I get a ticket I don’t argue or resist – getting a ticket is a consequence of breaking the law. I can’t get upset with law enforcement for doing there job and making sure I obey.

Leviticus is a heavy book of rules and laws and God is not giving options; His penalties are severe. I guess it serves to prove that God doesn’t ‘play’ with sin. As I read some of His DO NOT’s, I cringe. I can’t imagine that anyone would do the certain things named in this chapter, but clearly there are those who can, and do. Our prison’s are full of law breakers, evidence that sin is alive and well. God is also telling them in advance that their conduct has consequences and He is the enforcer – if they choose to participate in these sinful acts, they will be punished. His punishment is very harsh too!

My favorite set of verses of chapter 19 is verse 7-8 “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” I tend to look for the positive in all things and this verse is as positive as it gets because The LORD does make us holy. He is unapologetic about that too and the beautiful part is that we are better for it.

So today I learned that I need to beware. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD. And so it is… that is something to take very seriously and not take for granted.