So many people go throughout their daily lives carrying this weight of sin. They drag it around and try to give it labels like “freedom” to rationalize it. But they are bound. Like a chain around their ankle, sin only takes away freedom.
Much of the world views the idea of God and religion as something that enslaves the lives of people. The psalmist describes them saying, “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters’ (Psalm 2:1-3). I’m sure you know of some people who just gave up on God, because the thought of doing things His way was just too hard. This thought is a delusion.
Solomon says, “For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray” (Proverbs 5:21-23). The reality is that man gets bound up and caught up in the cords of sin. Sin leads men away from God to a life of bondage and death.
David declared, “For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 38:4). A life in sin is one of constant burden. It is a life of an unbearable heaviness on a set of shoulders that is not equipped to handle it.
So many people go throughout their daily lives carrying this weight of sin. They drag it around and try to give it labels like “freedom” to rationalize it. But they are bound. Like a chain around their ankle, sin only takes away freedom. Isaiah said, “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope” (Isaiah 5:18). Worldly wisdom tells us that the efforts of towing around our sin with us will amount to some kind of achievement. But, a life of accumulating sin doesn’t amount to anything but a crushing avalanche – as if it had any wages other than death.
David was a man once bound up in sin. He saw very clearly that its end result was only the destruction of lives. He encourages us in saying, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). When sin is in control, it dictates your life. Even as it is binding you up in its web, it is breaking apart the foundation of your life. But the Lord wants to take that burden from us and refound our lives in righteousness. He never expected us to sustain us… that’s His job.
God has purpose for us apart from a life of sin; a purpose not of vain efforts to survive under a suffocating weight. God wants us to be reclothed in His purpose. This is why the Hebrew writer says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
A life of sin means a life of dragging sin that’s behind you or lifting sin that’s above you. Jesus wants us to free ourselves from the delusion of God and religion enslaving people. He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
God describes His children in this way: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them” (Hosea 11:1-4). God is our Father. We are but toddlers. What a beautiful picture. He takes us by our hands and teaches us how to walk – teaches us how to be free – heals us. With hands of compassion He leads us to our goal. No longer do we have a weight behind us, but a Father before us, sustaining us in His purpose.
-Cary Gillis D.Min. March 7, 2021
A Life of Sin Is Easier?
