Lay those Burdens Down!

I read today yet another story of a person finally finding freedom from his past. As a child, he was victimized by more powerful people, abused in terrible ways. He carried the secret for decades, feeling shame for what had been done to him, feeling
confusion about his place in his family, his sexual identity, and even his life in Christ. He wore his own self-created label of 'victim' and 'weak' and 'damaged,' for his entire life. Only recently has he been set free.

I don't know this person but I know dozens like him, and I have been him. The awful secrets we are given to carry cause us shame and make us feel we must hide our true selves -- because surely, if others knew who we really are, they would turn from us in horror and make us feel even more alone. But two things change that picture. First, Jesus Christ accepts us, with all our junk and secrets -- he knows our secrets more in detail than we do, and loves us in spite of them. Second, we should each accept one another, (Romans 15:7) knowing that every one of us has secrets, and every one of us has been forgiven by that same Jesus.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says "come to me if you're worn out from carrying heavy loads [like old secrets and the pain of others' abuse] and I will give you the rest you long for." The secret of completely overcoming these pains of the past is only found by giving it all to Jesus. The prayers and support of other people can be effective in helping us find a path to lay it all down at the foot of Jesus' cross -- but we can only really be free by opening up all of our pain to Jesus and looking at it with him. See, he doesn't demand that we overcome our stuff before we come to him. He doesn't tell us to let go all of our pain and forgive everyone else so that we can come to him and feel forgiven too. He brings us into his arms, fills up our lacks and our pain with his marvelous grace, and then shows us how to let go and forgive.

Jesus gladly took on the betrayal of his disciples Judas and Peter (one deliberate and one cowardly), and the all the hatred and abuse from his own people and from the Romans, so he could carry it all to the Cross and forgive it all. He knows how you and I feel. He opened his arms on the Cross to welcome us in -- so we could dump all our junk at his feet. If you haven't yet opened up that secret stash of pain and sin, this is the year to do it at Easter, and leave it all behind. If you need help praying through it, just ask.