Dead Weight

As I entered the city limits of Lakeland, I caught a brief but intriguing vignette that spurred deeper thought as I drove on to my job.  On the sidewalk of the busy highway was the body of a big black dog that had obviously lost his life in a run-in with a vehicle.

Standing over the dog’s body was a municipal worker that I assumed had been sent to retrieve the remains of the unfortunate animal. It took only a split second for me to pass the scene but I couldn’t resist checking my rear-view mirror to see if I was correct in my assumption. I was.

I glanced in the mirror in time to see the man stoop to grab the canine corpse by one leg. Continuing in his crouched position, the man turned to move forward but struggled to drag the heavy body across the sidewalk and toss it into the back of his truck.

In a flash, I was reminded of the weights we drag behind us as we live our lives. The specific weight that came to mind was unforgiveness. We are bent low with hurts, misdeeds, angry words and other ills against us, whether intentional or not. We refuse to let go of the black dead weight that keeps us bent and contorted in discomfort and thereby hampering us in our walk.

Nazarene minister, Rich Cook states, “Good Christian people live under the weight of unforgiveness for decades. They feel the weight of it every day spiritually, emotionally and physically. Forgiveness releases us.”

Corrie ten Boom, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, viewed forgiveness as a means to freedom. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that prisoner was you.”

In order to stand tall and walk unhindered into God’s plan for us,  let us “lay aside every weight” by forgiving the wrongs against us and move forward in the freedom that forgiveness brings.

Blessings!