Burden-Lifting Love

The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of a man on a journey from his hometown to the “Celestial City.” This late-17th-century work, penned by the English Puritan John Bunyan, is the most famous Christian allegory still in print. In allegorical literature, the names and places represent a deeper spiritual reality. For example, the “Celestial City” is a metaphor for heaven. While the journeyer longs to reach the city, he is weighed down by a heavy “burden” that will prevent him from reaching the destination unless the load is removed. The man’s “burden” represents the spiritual reality of sin.

Each of us carries a spiritual load that weighs us down and keeps us from fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. The past failures, guilt, anger, and wrongs that hold us down are symptoms of the underlying condition of sin. Those who accept God’s forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice are made right with God and freed from the weight of sin (Romans 3:25, NLT). One of the chief ways we exhibit God’s forgiveness is by forgiving others. Paul admonished the church in Ephesus to be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32).

In Matthew 18, we read of Peter asking Jesus, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” (v. 21). Peter may have used the number seven because of the significance of the “seventh day” when God enjoyed (rested from) all that He had accomplished in the work of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). Given its rich scriptural meaning, perhaps Peter imagined seven times would be enough. Our Lord’s response is astonishing, “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!” (v. 22). If we do the math, that’s 490 times. The crucial point is not the precise number of times we forgive someone but that we value forgiveness with the same vitality that Jesus did. The value He placed on forgiveness was exponentially greater even than what Peter the Apostle thought would suffice.

Forgiveness lifts the weight of one’s burdens. Christ’s atoning sacrifice lifted the debt of our sin for all time. Whenever we forgive someone, we show them God’s burden-lifting love. Forgiving others lifts the anger and resentment that weighs us down. It is also the way we help lift the guilt and shame from the shoulders of those who have wronged us.

Lord, renew me in Your burden-lifting love. Thank You for Your once-and-for-all forgiveness for my sin in the atoning sacrifice of the most precious gift, Your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to extend the same tender-hearted kindness to others by forgiving them as many times as it takes.

Scripture is quoted from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.