Are Burdens Bad?

Until recently, I thought of burdens as a bad thing.  Jesus' cross was a burden - how could a burden ever be a positive thing?   It was a blog entry by Perry Noble that made me stop and think.  He writes, "You have been burdened/bothered by the Most High God in regards to what he specifically wants you to do regarding His will."  

I thought, "God is bothering me?  Like a little kid poking me to get him a juice box?  Of course not...maybe I don't know what burden really means..."  So I looked it up.  

Burden- something that is carried; duty; responsibility

So God, my Heavenly Father who loves me, has made it my responsibility, my duty, to carry out the calling He has placed on my life.  Maybe if I don't listen he'll poke me like a little kid would, but am I being a faithful disciple if I don't hear and respond?  And has God really put the right people around me to help carry my burden?  

I know without a doubt God has placed me where He wants me and continues to burden me (poking when I don't listen) with what He wills for my life.  I hope you, my friends, will help me with these responsibilities and will allow us in The Porch community to do the same for you.

What are some of your burdens?  How can we be praying for you?

-Neal

Amy H. interview on prayer

Prayer / Amy Harper from Guilford College UMC on Vimeo.

Take Away the Cup

In the upcoming weeks, The Porch is going to be looking at Jesus' prayers during the last hours of his life. Right before he gets arrested, Jesus goes into the Garden of Gethsemane and prays, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will”(Matthew 26.) It's a short prayer, but perhaps one the most powerful utterances in the whole Bible. In two short sentences, we can begin to understand the intense anguish that Jesus was under as we realize that he suffers the same way that you and I suffer. Who among us has not at one point or another prayed for God to remove our burdens?

This tells me two things. First, as long as we are on this earth, we will have to endure suffering. In fact, if we are serious about following Jesus, this means that we will follow him through the miracles, signs and wonders into the Garden and then to the cross. A call to follow Jesus is not one that takes us to a suffer-free zone, but instead one that allows us to serve a savior that was willing to suffer with us.

Secondly, God hears our prayers as a means of comforting us in the midst of our burdens. This does not imply that all of our burdens will be removed (the cup was not taken from Jesus), but it does show that God hears us. In a world that is telling us to make it on our own, Jesus' prayer in the Garden suggests the opposite. Our God is so close to us that he listens to our hearts and hears our struggles while we are in it. God is big enough to hear each of our prayers, yet close enough to listen and comfort each of his followers.

So how do you best give your burdens to God? Has God ever removed the cup for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts.