July 6

Hiking mountain trails is an enjoyable pastime for some people. The sense of adventure in doing so is exhilarating and the beauty of this untouched realm of nature is breathtaking. The enjoyment of the climb requires the hiker to carry a weighty backpack—things like food, water, camping equipment necessitate that the one engaging in the trek be in tip-top shape.

At the end of the day’s climb, it is refreshing to simply lay the backpack down, to be free of the forty pound weight that’s been strapped to the hiker’s back. Our journey through life finds us carrying a weighty burden of sin that the Lord Jesus Christ invites us to lay down.

He has carried it to the cross and there is no longer a need for us to carry it, but sometimes we persist in keeping it strapped to our back. Why? Sometimes it’s because we haven’t yet realized that the Lord has carried it for us. Maybe it’s because we think we enjoy it and can’t let it go.

Yet the Word says in Hebrews 12:1,2 that we are to, “…throw off everything that hinders us, the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” He’s carried our backpack so we can climb with unencumbered faith to glory.