Freedom, choice, happiness: these are words that the world uses to describe sin. But the Bible tells us that sin oftentimes feels like a weight upon us. David, in Psalm 38 speaking about dealing with his sin with Bathsheba, says, “My iniquities have gone over my head like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.” Psalm 38:4. This idea of sin being heavy is also brought up in 2 Timothy 3:6 speaking of those who are “weighed down with sins.” Isaiah, speaking of his people says, “The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; it’s transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.” Isaiah 24:20. Sin is heavy! We alone cannot bear our sins.
Last Sunday after our snow, I noticed how many trees were weighed down. Each individual snowflake seems weightless, but joined together it causes a powerful tree to droop. Sin works in a similar way if it gets into our lives. We may seem strong. But the longer sin remains in our lives, the more difficulty we have in hiding it and enduring it.
Dr. Day of Princeton University conducted an experiment in 2013 studying the effects of guilt. He found that guilt has properties similar to an object with real weight. (Read the study at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069546#close) When a person feels “weighed down” with guilt, it has similar effects and properties to someone who is carrying a large weight around with them. That’s why there is such relief when a person finds forgiveness. Isaiah speaks of Jesus as one who bears our sorrows, Isaiah 53:4. When he died upon the cross, he removed our burdens and forgave our sins. The greatest weightless plan ever devised is the spiritual freedom we find in Jesus Christ!!!
