Trade Your Burden

Jordan McKinney

Just a couple weeks ago, I was leading at our Kids Summer Camp. We met up with a number of other churches in our network and put together a great camp for kids, giving them a chance to change the pace of their lives and their normal routines, and to hear from God in a new and different way.  

At camp I was feeling a real weight and responsibility for my work. I had a lot going on and was feeling the pressure that comes with vocational ministry - trying to pastor and care for so many kids and families, as well as our staff and volunteer teams. There are also the mundane things like making sure we have enough volunteers and balancing budgets. All these things were on my mind and weighing heavy upon me on the second day of camp.  

That evening we were letting kids respond to the message the speaker gave. He had talked about trading in our sin for the righteousness of Jesus. He gave two visuals to go with this message: The first was trading in a brown paper bag lunch like when you were in school, for a nice hot lunch. That’s an easy trade! The second was how sin is like a huge weight upon us, hindering and crushing us slowly. For this he had asked one leader to jump on the back of another leader for the whole message. Slowly the one leader carrying the other began to get shaky legs and sweating like crazy. Sin is a weight that we were never meant to carry. These were both great messages and visuals for the kids to trade in their sin and put down that burden at the cross. 

While the kids were responding, the Spirit used this message in a different way for me. He told me that I wasn’t meant to carry the burdens and responsibilities of life, let alone my ministry, on my own. No one can carry those burdens for long before they are face down in the mud being crushed under that weight. The Spirit reminded me that Jesus made a trade offer of His yoke and His burden for ours. He told me that I needed to trade in the weight I was trying to carry all by myself and take His yoke instead.  

This trade is for all of us to make. In Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus makes us this offer when He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  

My burden was one of work and ministry, but maybe you are trying to carry a different burden. It could be worry and anxiety. It could be the responsibility of raising a family, or of work. Maybe it is a burden of sorrow, or a medical diagnosis that you are trying to carry on your own.  

Whatever burden you have, you can leave it at the foot of the cross. Jesus is willing to make that trade. He takes our burdens and gives us His yoke instead.