A few years ago, Jon and I visited a beautiful lake near our home. Until that visit, we had only admired its beauty in passing – from a distance. Its blue waters beckoned as it lay nestled in the surrounding mountains.
On the day of our visit, we set out with high expectations. Taking the scenic drive we stopped along the way to admire the beauty that lay before us. As we pulled up to the lake, we immediately noticed that what we had admired from afar, was much different up close. The beach was litter with trash. We stepped around discarded pizza boxes and paper plates; glancing sadly at plastic bottles and an abandoned flip flop. The lake lay before us. The water – no longer a beautiful blue, appeared brown and muddy. Despite all of this, the beach was crowded with people, and children were laughing and playing in the water. But for me, the day was over. The serenity that had called to me from the distance was merely an illusion.
As we drove away, I wondered how people can take something so beautiful and destroy it – one piece of litter at a time. Just then, I was reminded that we do the same thing with our spirits.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!”
Everything is new, whole, beautiful, unblemished, but we are determined to drag our past failures, disappointments, fears, and anxieties into this new life and wonder when is the “abundant life” part going to start.
How do we get back to the newness? How do we rewind the choices and clean up our spiritual beaches?
The first thing on my list is to Forget.
Paul tells us in Philippians 3:13-14 that he continually is
“… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Letting go of the past is huge. We can’t change yesterday. It’s done. We have to move on believing that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love him”. Romans 8:28
Number two on my list is Unloading.
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus gives the invitation:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.”
Peter gave the same advice to the younger Christians in 1 Peter 5:7
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
We were not designed to bear the emotional weight and burden of not only our problems but the problems of those around us. Every day, you hear of someone who has cracked under the weight of the pressure. Hear His invitation – "Cast your cares". Hebrews 12:1 echoes this invitation:
“… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Runners don’t run a race with a backpack full of heavy rocks. We too, shouldn’t attempt to run this race with the cares of the world on our shoulders. Unload.
The final step on my list is Trust.
Proverbs 3: 5-6 (NKJV) reminds me to
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your paths.”
Trust is often the most difficult. We see things going on around us and don’t understand why God allows it. That is when we have to step back and repeat “lean not on your own understanding” and trust. God is in control. He has a plan. I’m reminded of Paul’s message to the Philippians, in 1:6
“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion.”
Trust. We don’t have to have the answers, we just have to trust.
Abundant life is not an illusion. It’s attainable, but it takes an intentional mindset. One that is willing to forget the past, unload the burdens to the One who is all-powerful and able to do abundantly above all we could ask, think, or even imagine, and trust Him who loves us with an everlasting love.
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