Do you walk around with a heavy weight on your shoulders? Do you feel overwhelmed with concern about your situation in life? Are you trudging along as though walking through quicksand? Are you willing to drop the heavy pack you have been carrying?
We often carry several heavy rocks around in a backpack that weighs us down. That virtual pack carries the sin we fail to ask forgiveness for. We may know be able to identify it. We may feel that something is not right but we do not know exactly what it is that weighs us down.
Our first step is to evaluate what we do or think or say that we know is not pleasing to God. We may identify multiple sins in the process of our evaluation. Once we have identified the cause of our heavy heartedness, we must confess our sin to God and ask him for forgiveness. Perhaps the most difficult step in the process is believing he will forgive us.
The reason some of us will not believe God will forgive us is that we won’t forgive ourselves. Make no mistake, we cannot flippantly say we forgive ourselves not half-heartedly ask God to forgive us. It requires a heart to soul conversation within us. It requires us to have an outpouring of our heart to God and a willingness to turn away from our sin.
But when we finish our self-evaluation, identify what is weighing us down, are willing to forgive ourselves, and ask God for forgiveness, the weight is lifted. Rather than moping around, putting on a façade for others, and carrying a heavy weight, we become light-hearted, have renewed energy, and are happy. So, rid yourself of the heavy weight of sin you carry around.
I pray we all recognize the heavy weight we carry around. I pray we identify the sin we fail to confess. I pray each one of us will forgive ourselves and trust God will forgive us when we ask. Recognize the weight you carry. Identify your sin. Forgive yourself. Ask God to forgive you.
Psalm 32:1-2
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Marty Pressey 