Being in Christ is not to be a burden, but we put burdens on ourselves unnecessarily, for Christ said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mat 11: 28-30). We want to walk perfect before Him, by dotting every “i” and crossing every “t”.This is impossible!Remember we have this treasure in earthen vessels (2Cor 4:7) so mistakes will still be made and opportunities missed.Even though we strive for perfection and have the power, we sometimes fall prey to our flesh but we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1Jo 2:1).Many times when we sin, get into our flesh, or make a bad decision we thought was spiritual, we feel we not only let the Lord down but also we let ourselves down because we know better.We have set the bar so high that in reality it’s no way we can reach it and maintain it and as a consequence we feel disappointed when we fall shortespecially when it happens more than once and that is when we must not be so hard on ourselves.We are saved solely by grace and not by our works!Christ died so that through Him, we have life and our relationship with him is not based on how perfect we are, how many mistakes we make or don’t make, or our personal evaluation on how we are supposed to be.Our salvation is not based on our performance or on our maintaining a certain goal, but it’s based on the finished work of Christ. So be fully persuaded “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, or principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, norheight, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38, 39).Remember “The race is not given to theswift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, (Eccl 9:11); but, “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight, saith the Lord” (Jer 9:23, 24).So “Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal 6:9).
