Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - The Load That's Not Yours - #8418

Monday, December 7, 2009

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They start young with the backpacks these days. When our granddaughter was three she wore her backpack a lot. At one point, she had it loaded with her favorite books, and I do mean loaded. She walked through the living room all bent over from the weight of what she was carrying, and our son said, “Well, why don’t you let me take that off your back?” Her first response: “No, Daddy, I can carry it.” Then, just a few more steps, she looked up and said, “OK, Daddy, would you take it please?” Of course, he did and after which he asked her, “Is that better, honey?” She said, “Ah, it’s a lot better, Daddy!”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I don’t think my granddaughter is the only one I know who’s all weighed down with burdens they don’t have to be carrying. I’m one of those sometimes. I was reminded of that a few weeks ago when a Christian leader friend told me something that had really freed him up. “Five words,” he told me, “right from the lips of John the Baptist.” The Bible says, “He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Christ’” (or “I am not the Messiah”) (John 1:20 ).

So many times we get to feeling that we have to always be the answer for our kids, for our family, for the people who look to us, for the needs all around us, but that’s a load we were never meant to carry. Now, I know I’m not anybody’s messiah—only Jesus can be that, but sometimes I carry the unnecessary burden and stress of acting like every need is mine to meet. It is so liberating, so load-lightening to look in the mirror and remind yourself: “I am not the Messiah.”

This radio program references: John 1:20