Lifted Vision Ministry

– Lamentations 3 –

⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them,
    and let us return to the Lord.

Dearest family in Christ,

I urge you, return to the Lord. Do not return to old habits, old scenes and old comforts that are destroying you and crushing your Spirit, first inwardly and then outwardly. I pray that God would create in you a heart posture that acknowledges that God’s ways are perfect and our ways are flawed. The Bible says,

Galatians 6:5, KJV: “For every man shall bear his own burden.”

Man’s burden. What is the, “burden of man?” Man’s Burden, AKA: the ways in which we often make life harder for ourselves; the direct results of our own (flesh inspired) choices. I’m talking about the specific choices that we make that do us more harm than good in the long run. Here is an illustrative example: for an overweight person, skipping a work out and eating a gallon of ice cream instead, is a choice that will certainly not benefit you in any good way and certainly won’t aid you in reaching your goals. Thus, your action (not working out and eating ice cream instead) led to your own burden (continually being overweight, harming your health). These poor choices and behaviors tend to avalanche and have, “stackable” consequences if repeated. Therefore, man can continually add to his own burden, if not wise or careful. For example, skipping your workouts for an entire week and eating ice cream every day instead, will probably result in additional weight gain. The negative choice, once repeated, has become a habit and will continue to be an even bigger burden for you now (with even bigger and more prolonged negative consequences). “Old habits die hard”… don’t they?

Case in point:

Man’s burden can be described as the systems and behaviors that you do in your every day life in your own strength and limited knowledge, resulting in more work or a larger burden for yourself than when you started. Man can “feed” his own burdens either consciously or unconsciously and lead to his/her own success or failure.

What does the Bible share with us about our own actions?

Galatians 6:7, AMP:

⁷ “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked…for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.“

This verse in the Bible is where the American saying, “You reap what you sow” comes from. However, is our watered-down, modern day version of this saying all that this scripture was really emcompassing? Not at all. The Bible says, “whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.“

If you ONLY reap what you sow, then how much damage could be done by sowing into negative behaviors? If you sow into (participate in) your negative behaviors (flesh inspired actions) you will only produce negative results. And most of the time dear ones.. we don’t even realize that we are sowing into negativity until the negative result is produced. Is it too late at that point? Is there no hope for man then? That’s not the case at all. There is hope and freedom. Thank God that the inverse of this is also true! Those who sow good things, will reap good things!

Galatians 6:8, AMP:

⁸ For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

So what is the solution to Man’s Burden? Is there a way to end the negative, cyclic behaviors that we do? Is there a way to make better choices every time while catapulting yourself to success? Please join me for Part II of this message where I answer these questions using truth from the Bible. Part II “Spirit and Freedom” How to have freedom in the midst of our situation?

~ Stay Blessed ~