"How to Drop the Rock"

My Grandmother's example of Christian faith has played a significant role in any positive impulse I have ever shown in this world. I can see her standing at the kitchen stove whistling one of her favorite hymns as she made her famous hamburgers (most of family thought it was in her hands but I place my money on her singing). On a good day she would stand there and just sing them out loud. Some of the hamburgers in that skillet must have become very tender with the determined attention they received. I remember her placing her hands on me when I was very small, asking God to heal me from an illness I had at the time or when I was afraid. He did. She was kind to a fault, generous with what little she had to give, slow to anger, quick to lift up with laughter, and slow to put down. She was a good woman, and God blessed this earth with her for many years. 
 

And yet, this shining example of what Christ can do in a life, had a nagging doubt in her quiet moments. On more than one occasion she expressed a concern she had; that God might feel she "was not good enough" because she fell behind in her Bible-reading plan, again; or she would say,” I’ve been trying to go to church in the last four months, and the pace has been overwhelming”. Oh, she understood that we have all gone astray like sheep in a flock. But she made sure we attended Sunday School every Sunday and not go off course. And she understood that God sent his Son Jesus to die for the sin that we universally experience. She knew that she could not earn favor with her redeemer by the things she did. And yet, will God think I'm "good enough". She was carrying that "rock" around on her back, and in spite of all she knew or believed, she could not "drop the rock". 
 

And I wonder if the rest of us who call ourselves the washed, the redeemed in Christ, don't carry a bit of this rock too. That troublesome guilt trip and anxiety that drags along behind us. The weight of sins past that still cling to us like superglue. Some part of us still feels that when we stand before the judgment seat of God, we will be pronounced a failure, a sinner, "guilty as charged". We just haven't made the grade. St Paul cried out in anguish one day saying something like, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? The things that I want to do, I don't do, and the things that I don't want to do, that is exactly what I do." 
Paul felt the weight of that rock from time to time. And so, do I. Do you? 
 

We can have our consciences cleansed when we bring our sin, our failures, and our miserable attempts to appease God to the foot of the cross. The atonement of Christ forgives our sin and cleanses our conscience (Hebrews 10:22). We acknowledge our inability to cleanse our own hearts and ask Him to do it for us. We trust that Jesus’ death and resurrection are sufficient to pay the price we owe God. When we accept Jesus’ payment for our personal sin, God promises to cast our sins away from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12; Hebrews 8:12).

It's time that we, once and for all, drop the rock. Release it. Let it go. We are not meant to have that burden. When the rock was rolled from the tomb, it was also taken off our backs. The weight of sin is not for the Christian to carry. Jesus removed every last milligram of it. More on this next week and learn: "How to Drop the Rock" 

 "My faith looks up to Thee, thou lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. 

Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away, 

Oh, let me from this day, be wholly Thine." 

Our truths can remain clear as we continually confess our sin to God and trust that the blood of Jesus is sufficient to make us right with Him. We continue to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). We trust that, in spite of our imperfections, God delights in us and in His transforming work in our lives. Jesus said, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). 

PRAYER: Father, how can we figure out that we no longer carry the guilt of our failings? And yet we know what the scriptures teach us. Help us to take on the significance of what Jesus did for us in a way that sets us free and learn, “How To Drop the Rock”. We pray this in the name of the one who is our advocate, Jesus. Amen 

God Bless You and This Ministry!