What do you think?

This past Wednesday I had a lesson in our small group talking about the baggage we carry as people and how we can find freedom at the cross.

Matthew 11:28-30 (CEV) “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.” 

The more and more I look around I see how much pressure we place on our kids. Please hear me, I still 100% believe in discipline but at the same time when parents require all of this stuff and the child is left with no choice? One of my students said "Why should I pray if I know I am going to keep sinning?" WOW! It's a good question wouldn't you say? But that question proved that God was at work in is life though. He had been convicted and knew what he was doing was wrong. But it's amazing how Satan has the ability to get into someones head and make them believe that The power of Christ and the cross is just about being good.

The cross is the place to where all of our baggage can be left and because of the blood of Jesus it is all washed away. Do we still suffer? yeah...Do we still struggle?  yes sir! But at the cross we can start to see the freedom that only comes from Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53
³ He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.
 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.
 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all. 

The beautiful part of Christ is the love he has for his people and how he understands suffering. I see more and more that our students suffer in ways we can not understand. I believe it is time to make an effort to point them to the cross of Jesus Christ. We can do everything for them, but if we never introduce them to salvation and the person who offers that...then we do nothing!