The weight of sin

Think about the weight of sin. Sin is a heavy load that's for sure. Our sinful nature can lead to consequences and penalties that have the potential to cause much suffering if we allow ourselves to be disobedient and not submit to the Holy Spirits guidance. Even though we've been born again as Christians, we still struggle in the area of obedience. Don't be surprised at this, the bible tells us this happens, and that's why we long for the day when we'll be absent from the body and with Christ in Heaven. The body, the flesh, is a sinful thing, but the soul that belongs to Jesus is promised eternal life and one day will be separated from the sinful body and the temptation to be disobedient will be gone forever.

What we need is to be refreshed! We need to be relieved from this weight of sin upon us. When we repent (turn away from our sin) God promises not only to wipe out our sins, but to bring spiritual refreshment! The message of salvation includes the call of repentance- acknowledging our personal sin and turning away from it. Repentance may seem hard at first, because it's difficult to give up certain sins. After all our body is comfortable in sin, just as a pig is happy rolling around in the mud. But God cleanses us. He blots out our sins, he removes them from us and makes us clean. We no longer feel good in the mud of sin.

Acts 3:19
(19) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

Sin is heavy, it's a weight that keeps us from being alive and refreshed. Refreshment come to us only through the Lord Jesus Christ. His presence within us is the key. When we repent, were converted, born again. We now have the Holy Spirit within us, and the Spirit (the presence of the Lord) is where we receive our joy, peace and most of all, times of refreshment. It's refreshing to know that we'll have eternal life isn't it? Now that we've been converted (we're no longer slaves to the sin that separates us from our loving God), we need to drink in daily the refreshing living water. As Hosea promised, "Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth" (Hosea 6:3). Do you feel a need to be refreshed?