74: Jesus is a Sponge
Gentle and Lowly, by Dane Ortland
One of the ways I engage with the Lord and learn from him is through journaling. Journaling for me is mainly writing out my prayers and conversations with the Lord. Journaling helps me interact and engage with the Holy Spirit.
The other day I found myself wanting to absorb the hurt that someone else is feeling. If I could only take their pain away from them, I thought. I would rather have it on myself in order that they would no longer have to feel it. The Scriptures do tell us to bear one another’s burdens. But then I thought, this is what Jesus does, it’s more his job than it is mine. And he is much better at it than I am.
My role in bearing other’s burdens is to take them to Jesus. Them being their burdens, taking my friends burdens to Jesus in prayer. But also them being my friends, taking my friends to Jesus. My role is to tell, explain and show people that Jesus has and will absorb their pain. Like a sponge absorbs water from the countertop, Jesus absorbs our pain, our hurt, our frustrations, even our sin. He takes it all upon himself. O what a Savior we have!
Matthew 11:28-29 really is true. Jesus says, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus himself says that he wants to absorb your burdens. He wants you to give your burdens to him. You need to hear that again, Jesus desires to take your burdens. This is what Jesus loves to do!
If you have a child and they have ever been in pain, then you know how badly you want that pain to go away. You know that if you could break your arm in order to not have their arm be broken, then you would do it in a heartbeat. Well, that is exactly how Jesus wants to relate to you. Except his compassion is exponentially greater for you than yours is for your child. It’s hard to believe because we love our kids so much, but it is true. We know it’s true because that is what Jesus did on the cross. He spared you the pain and agony of eternal death by dying in your place.
“The cumulative testimony of the four gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the fallenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it.” Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly
“And now Ortlund quoting the puritan Thomas Goodwin, “Christ’s own joy, comfort, happiness and glory are increased and enlarged by his showing grace and mercy in pardoning, relieving, and comforting his members here on earth.”