Weekly Words with Brandon Moore: Unburden Yourself

I like to think of myself as a dude who doesn’t fit into all the cliche dude stuff, you know? I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I don’t hunt or fish. I don’t drive a truck. To my knowledge, I don’t grunt all the time. And up until recently, I thought I wasn’t the type of dude who “had to carry all the groceries in on one trip.” 

 

When I saw people joking about that, I was like, “Man, I’m glad I’m not really like that.” Turns out, though, I just wasn’t self-aware because I have realized since the moment I proudly proclaimed I wasn’t that type of guy that I am in fact that type of guy. 

 

My goal is always and has always been to carry the groceries inside on one carry.

 

There is no other way.

 

The reason I bring that up is because I want you to get that picture in your head and put yourself in those grocery carrying shoes for a second. You’ve got hands full of groceries, paper towels tucked under your arm, you’re loaded down. Then imagine someone tossing a boulder your direction and you’re expected to catch the boulder. But you can’t drop anything you’re already holding onto! 

 

Then another gets tossed your way. 

 

Then another. 

 

And if you drop anything, everything seemingly falls apart.

 

For many of you, that’s life. 

 

You finally get a handle on the hundreds of tasks you need to do daily when something at work blows up. You handle that situation well but it puts you behind in another area and then life happens and someone in the family gets sick. And this would *maybe* be sustainable if not for the realistic possibility that many of you have family situations you’d classify as a mess.

 

It’s one thing after another.

 

And you’re just burdened. For some of you, those burdens are weighing you down more than you can even admit because you, like me with the groceries, might be lacking self-awareness on how much you’ve tried to pick up and carry over the last 6 months to a year.

 

Let me remind you of King Jesus. He took on flesh, lived life, and said to anyone and everyone that would listen:

 

28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

–Matthew 11:28-30

 

The idea of “unburdening yourself” is actually impossible. It’s a burden to try to unburden yourself. Where do you start? How do you do it the right way? What if it doesn’t work? 

 

I want to encourage you in a different way… allow yourself to be unburdened. This doesn’t change the responsibility for things to get done… but think of it this way. A book I read earlier in the year said it this way:

 

Any burden on your life is actually a burden for the Holy Spirit inside of you.

 

Start with a prayer like this:

 

“Father, I release this burden to You. Fill me up with the Holy Spirit so I can do what needs to be done in Your power.” 

 

Some of you have been carrying burdens that are, in fact, not your burdens to carry. They are for our Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him carry them. And let Him fill you up with the Spirit so you can do what needs to be done in His power, not yours. Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The Lord Jesus Christ gives us all that we need and our soul will find all the rest it needs in Him. Believe it, behold Him, and lay down those burdens at His feet.

 

Have a great week!