A Prayer for When You Are Under the Weight of Sin
By Tiffany Thibault
When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. - Psalm 65:3 (NIV)
The current mantra of our society seems to be that I must tell myself that I am worthy, I am smart, I am enough, I am capable, I am loved, and so on. To be truly happy and fulfilled, I must say, believe and live these words. However, these words are not truth.
You see, regardless of how much I personally affirm myself and try to build myself up, this affirmation still fails to cover one very important aspect of the state of my soul: I am a sinner. I may appear to do all the right things and be a “nice” person, but as a human, I am hardwired to do things that we humans like to explain or excuse away. God gave us a word for this. That word is sin.
Sin is anything we do that misses the mark of God’s perfect holiness. It’s caused a separation between God and you. Sin is anything that breaks the heart of God. Sin is anything that causes hurt to another. Sin makes us unclean and unworthy to stand before God, and no number of cultural labels can cover our sin up or make us good enough as a “sinner” to stand in the presence of God.
Our sins not only cause us to be separated from God but leave us lonely and overwhelmed under sin's consequences. Our souls feel heavy as we try to walk through life bearing sins ugly weight.
Dumping sins' weight off our shoulders is not as easy as reciting personal mantras. Getting rid of sin requires us to face it head-on, facing all of its real ugliness. We must recognize that carrying sin around has kept us trapped in a prison.
Our verse, though, gives us a solution to that. We don’t have to walk under the weight of our sins. We don’t have to be overwhelmed by the weight of carrying the burden of it. There is only one way to rid ourselves of our sins. We must recognize that it was Jesus who died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven. Romans 5:8 says that while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. 1 Peter 2:24 says this: He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.
Jesus is the answer. He forgives every single one of our sins through his death on the cross. We must turn to Him and accept his forgiveness. It's free. It's waiting there for every single person who wants it. There are really only two choices set before us: continue living your life, overwhelmed with the weight of sin, or turn to Jesus and be saved.
If we choose to trust Jesus, He will forgive our sins - this verse promises us that! Jesus will remove that overwhelmed weight we carry. Christ’s freedom brings us joy, which will cause us to want to spend the rest of our life living for Him.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the comfort that the words of this verse give me. You forgive my transgressions! You took my sin upon yourself when you hung upon that cross, for me. You died for each one of my sins, for every one of my sin-filled thoughts, for every ugly attitude I have and for every selfish and evil action. You forgave every single one of my sins, none of them are too bad for you to forgive. Lord help me to walk in the freedom that this reality brings. Help me to point others to you, that they might also find forgiveness.
In your name, I pray,
Amen
Tiffany Thibault enjoys living life with her husband, two teenage daughters and one very large dog. She is a homeschool mom, an author, a Bible study leader and loves to share God’s word with women.
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