Happy July 12th!!! I hope that everyone has an AMAZING weekend serving Jesus!!
This week’s devotion is “What is Weighing You Down?” written by Angela Foca! Please take the time to read as she shares her heart with us today!
I am thankful for you all! Have an absolutely amazing day!
What is Weighing You Down? – Angela Foca
Have you ever gone somewhere and took more luggage than what you needed? I remember on numerous occasions taking way too much! Most of the stuff I didn’t need. It was frustrating dragging all of it around.
Sometimes we pack unnecessary things in our lives that end up weighing us down.
Hebrews 12:1 KJV it says
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
Have you ever heard someone say “They just make life a whole lot harder than what it needs to be”?
We do make it a lot harder sometimes, because of the sin that is weighing us down.
Resentment is one of many things that can weigh us down in life. There will always be someone who will hurt you or treat you unfairly, maybe even authority. I’ve known several people who use resentment as an excuse for how they live their life and how they treat others. They’ve allowed it to build up in their life and they’re miserable. God does not want us to live this way. In Psalms 55:22 KJV is says
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
God wants us to give him the burdens in our life that are weighing us down.
Growing up in a large church and I’ve seen my fair share of individuals who left, because they had resentment towards someone or something. There are two things I’ve noticed about individuals who have unresolved resentment in their life.
One, they always have a problem with Bible standards. Have you ever known someone who has a problem with Bible standards or maybe you’re struggling with Bible standards yourself and perhaps feel they’re too strict? The Bible is a rule book for the Christian, just like there are rules in every aspect of life. Bible standards are there to help the Christian to be better and to draw us closer to God. They weren’t created to make our life miserable by any means. Bible standards on dress (Deuteronomy 22:5), music (Ephesians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30), lifestyle (1 Corinthians 10:31), how to treat others, (Ephesians 4:32) etc. was structured, so we could be set apart from the world. When we start to look at Bible standards in a negative way, we start to build up resentment in our life toward God who created them. When you start to question and don’t understand, look to the Bible.
Number two, when someone has unresolved resentment in their life. I see them being very critical.
I have personally known families destroyed by how critical someone is. I remember sitting with a friend of mine in church with her family and they were very critical of everything. I’ll never forget that as a young person.
I’ve also known parents who’ve been very critical of others with whom they did not agree with and made sure that everyone in their family including the children knew how they felt. Pretty soon the children were acting very critical just like them. It’s heartbreaking to see how damaging one person’s critical spirit can be to others. There’s always going to be things or people we don’t agree with, but we must be careful to not be so critical.
In Jeremiah 17:9 KJV it says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
What is in our heart will always come out.
We need to understand that our heart is wicked, but God wants us to be understanding and forgiving.
Don’t be too quick to have a critical spirit, sometimes we don’t always know the full picture.
Ephesians 4:32 KJV it says,
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Learn to have a spirit of understanding and forgiveness. Try to be aware of when you have a critical spirit and do not let it build up in your life.
Having a critical spirit can mean you have unresolved resentment that needs to be sorted out.
I’m a huge vindicator of talking things out. You may not always come to an agreement, but agreeing to disagree is okay. Allowing resentment to build up will cause unnecessary weight to tear you down in the Christian life.
God loves each and every one of us so much and would never want us to have such weight in our lives. Pray and ask God if there is any weight that is dragging you down from fully serving him.
God always wants the best for you.
https://www.sappsolutely.com/devotions/what-is-weighing-you-down-angela-foca?fbclid=IwAR2bhMZ-GcTanXHzBqdI0FA5gX6xQUftnQc62OyR53awUED6DsPGsShEpyQ
