Modern Christian - A Cub Of The Lion Of Judah

The overburdened Christian

The overburdened Christian - the difference between Not doing wrong rather than focusing on doing right

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So regularly, Christians , new and old feel totally overwhelmed by the idea of sin and doing wrong. We put this impossible burden on ourselves, stop doing this and this and this and this.  and then when we give in to even one  of those things , we blame ourselves and drag ourselves down even further into despair. A deadly cycle.

I've been avoiding writing so far this week because I've felt guilt about my own mistakes, inadequacies and self-worth. and one of the biggest symptoms of my guilt, is that I've distanced myself from God because it's easy to run away and hide when scared.

Sometimes, we go through phases of a constant state of guilt , we get totally burnt out.

And a reason that is easy to overlook, is that we approach our journey with a human outlook of what we are doing wrong, the ways we come short, our weaknesses, our disobedience, our bad choices. And it hurts , we cry out to God saying that we love him but we know that we are still doing things against God. And we pull away from God because our guilt is just too much to bear. We avoid shining the light on ourselves and become defensive, hardened, we turn our eyes away from God because we just don't allow ourselves to see past our sins.

The mistake of Overburdenening ourselves
Has devastating impacts when our life becomes all about not doing wrong, and in the process, we totally sacrificing our efforts on becoming a better person and doing right.

What does the bible say ?

Matthew 11:28-30

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

God promises us rest, rest from our self given burdens, the burdens we put on others and it's through the rest that we look past ourselves and center ourself on God again.

We need to learn to lessen our focus on not doing wrong , and make efforts to realign our focus on the main characters in the book of life. Focus on the author.
And focus on the greatest commandment that Jesus cited,  worthy enough to be mentioned in Mathew , Mark and Luke.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Realign your focus , focus on Love first and
With your new focus , strive to Love God and your neighbour and the one we tend to forget so much (YOURSELF)

Is there a way I can do more good
Is there a way I can be more loving
Is there a way I can be more humble
Is there a way I can be more honest
Is there a way I can be braver
Is there a way I can be kinder
Is there a way I can be more charitable
Is there a way I can be more forgiving
Is there a way I can glorify God.

Jesus never preached religion, he preached a kingdom, and the citizens are never perfect , but every citizen of God's Kingdom on earth  strives to be loving , and through our efforts to be more loving, we find that we start to love God even more, and through that Love, obedience will come more naturally, because no longer will we only be seeing the negatives which come from failure.

My friend Terri Wilson is an amazing photographer, and she understands the importance of focus , she said (and I quote)

"As a photographer it’s all about focus when you wish to capture that next best shot. As a follower of Christ it’s still all about focusing: on Him. Allowing Him to change us—He does the work within us if we allow Him and we put Him first.
Doing good instead of wrong is a fruit of His Spirit, a work of His whereby we are known to belong to Him by the world.
If our focus is truly on Him then we will share Him with everyone so that they may have the opportunity to believe in Him—focusing on Him gives us His freedom, complete freedom, to obey and follow Him. Ahh....sorry but it just pours out sometimes....😛"