Romans 12:17-21 – Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
I recently was flipping channels and found one of the weirdest television programs. There are who have defaulted or bankrupted on their planes, so some other guys will come in and break into a private airport, find a plane they’ve never seen, hijack it, and repossess it. I can’t even imagine this. You’re in a plane you know nothing about and you’ve never seen in your life – what could go wrong? So, these guys will just take planes out of the hangar to repossess them, hoping they fly and work.
In one particular episode, there’s a guy that had a great plane and got it on the runway, but he had a really hard time getting it off the ground. He barely made it over the trees and as he’s trying to climb in elevation, he thinks “Man, there’s just something wrong with this plane.” All the gauges seem fine, the motor seems fine, nothing is on fire. So, they eventually pull over to a regional airport and, come to find out, there’s a massive load of heavy, weighty cargo in the plane they didn’t know about.
As soon as they took all of the heavy, weighty cargo out, what do you think happened? Exactly what was supposed to – the plane goes up really easily, goes to the appropriate flight level immediately, gets good gas mileage, everything is fine.
The point is, there was nothing wrong with the plane, but it was just carrying a load it shouldn’t have been carrying. Many of us are like that plane. God has us on the right runway, we’re on the right plane, we’re going in the right direction, and God has a good destiny for us. But it still feels difficult to get off the runway. And it may not be because you’re doing the wrong thing, you’re going in the wrong direction, or there’s anything wrong with you. It may just be that the load you’re carrying and the weight you’re bearing is not intended for you.
God wants us to let go of those weights that we’re holding on to and that are keeping us from our God-given destiny and living the best possible life He has for us. We do this for total forgiveness. By forgiving others of the load of burden they have placed on us, our soul is lifted to rise as God intends for a better and higher future by God’s grace.
What circumstances or hurts of the past are weighing you down that you can let go of to live a more free, unburdened life?