But this false believe still haunts us today. I know for me, the sufficiency of Christs blood often feels too easy. It feels like I should have to work harder, to strive and to prove. The truth of the Gospel, that Christ did it all for us and that we need only receive, feels backwards. When I look at my sin and truly understand the weight of it, my flesh screams that I need to earn His love or make up for all that I have done wrong. 

In an effort to be enough and to be worthy, I start putting back on the yoke of slavery that Christ came to set me free from. I put on the yoke of acceptance. I put on the yoke of perfectionism. I put on the yoke of esteem. I put on the yoke of righteous acts. I put on the yoke of trying to earn salvation. It’s not that I even mean to do it. But the more I lose sight of the Gospel and the life-giving truth of it, the easier those burdens pile onto my back. And before I know it, I’m trying to walk through life weighted down beyond my ability to stand and wondering how things got so bad. 

But the amazing truth of Christ is that you can stand tall, dropping all the weight you’ve been carrying onto His shoulders, and walk in freedom. See, His shoulders are broad, and His strength is unlimited. He alone is able to carry the weight of all our need, all our failure, all our weakness. It’s a God-sized weight.  And the beautiful thing that happens when you let Him carry it is… you rest, you breathe. And then, you stride out, unburdened and walking in freedom. 

The truth is that we can only be useful for the kingdom when we function and serve in the unburdened freedom of the gospel. We will never be all that God wants for us or accomplish His will in our lives burdened down by the very thing He came to free us from. It will never come of our own strength but only through Christ strength working through us. I can’t earn my freedom and I can’t lose it. It is simply mine because Jesus says so. He did all the work. It belongs to Him, so He gets to call the shots. And because He is eternally loving, He chose to give it to us free of charge. It’s the key that opens the door we’ve always been wanting to walk through. And it’s yours- you just have to reach out and take it.