I remember hiking in the Rocky Mountains and each of us had to carry heavy backpacks. Over time, the back packs seemed to get heavier and heavier and were quite burdensome. It would have been a lot easier on this trip if I was dressed more like a distant runner with light weight clothes and shoes. Unfortunately, when you are hiking that is not the type of gear you wear.
Unrepentant sin in our lives is like wearing a large backpack that weighs you down. Each day you add more weight to your backpack until you can hardly move. God has not designed us, nor does He want us to be, weighted down with our sin. There is hope! We can take our burden to the cross.
We read inMatthew 11:28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”[1]
In our story a woman is caught in adultery. The burden is heavy. The Pharisees test Jesus and suggest that she be stoned. John 8:7 They kept demanding an answer, so he (Jesus) stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”[2] All the Pharisees realize they are sinners and leave. The truth is that Jesus is the only one who has never sinned. He was the only one that was qualified and could throw a stone. John 8:10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
11 “No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”[3]
The woman doesn’t have to continue to carry the burden of sin, she has the hope of new life. As sinners we have two choices. We can take our burden to Jesus or keep carrying it.
Asking the Lord to forgive you and being forgiven is an amazing gift. We no long have to carry the burden of sin that is weighing us down. Are you weighed down with sin today? The promise of God is that when we confess our sins, we receive God’s forgiveness. Psalm 103: 12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.[4]
Prayer: Heavenly Father I come before you burdened with sin that has crushed me down. I confess my sin now that is overwhelming me (Confess your sins to the Lord). Thank you, Jesus, that you took all my sin on the cross to make forgiveness possible lifting me out of the muck and mire. Amen.
To hear more about the woman caught in adultery, listen here:
[1-4] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.