Becky Crenshaw

But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted… Luke 10:40

CUMBERED (perispaō): to be over-occupied, too busy about a thing. to be driven about mentally, to be distracted. to drag all around.

Yesterday, we took inventory of what “clutters up” our mind. I encouraged you to make a run through the house…. Unload sin. Reload grace. Straighten disheveled thoughts, put away lies, and organize your mind to free up heart space… in hopes that the Lord would create some openness for you to sit and receive logos from the Logos Himself.

But before we move on, let’s talk seriously for a moment about what “drives you about mentally” as our KJV word cumbered defines.

If “cumbered” isn’t a word that resonates, try on “burden” for size. Ok. Now we are cooking with oil.

Friends, there are some thoughts that burden the fire out of me. Yes, I am prayerful and long to carry burdens of others, but what blocks me most often on my way to the feet of Jesus is the burden of my own sin or defeated thinking.

There are thought patterns and sin tendencies inside of my mind that drive me about batty and some days rule the roost. I can’t get into the Presence of God to save my life. I am Anxious… Worried… Discouraged… Consumed… Frustrated… Torn… Defeated… and honestly it feels easier to wallow in these emotions verses taking the energy to get free from them.

And honestly it feels easier because it IS easier. Sure it is. It is much easier. Getting out from under our troubles takes intentionality and effort. But the reward, remember, is shalom at the feet of Christ. I believe the latter is what we all desire most.

Let me just acknowledge the obvious. In this present day, December 2020, we have a bounty to pick from for an anxious thought. At every turn, we have reason for sadness, frustration, fear, heaviness, hostility or hopelessness. But reader, let me encourage you…. this is our shot.

If you want the light of Christ to beam bright out of your life, BE JOYFUL! BE FULL OF HOPE! SPEAK LIFE NOT DEATH! CARRY THE EASY YOKE!

It seems this is entirely counter-cultural at the moment, right? So for the sake of spreading the Gospel of Peace…. let’s get free from our burdensome/cumbered thoughts and get the mind of Christ and JOY OF THE LORD.

How? Oh y’all. I am EXCITED about this passage. READ PAUL’S WORDS:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 MSG

Martha!! Where did she go!? Read this!! Friend!! READ THIS! “Fix your attention on GOD! REFOCUS your attention on Jesus – in your village! In your home! In your heart!! THIS WILL CHANGE YOU. Recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond!”

And look at what the culture around you does in Romans 12…. “Always dragging you down to its level.” Now look back to the definition of cumbered. Driven about and dragged around.

Team! This is how we get out from under our burdensome thinking:

• GIVE all your things (eating, sleeping, working, walking around) to God as an offering.
• REFOCUS and FIX your attention back on God – repent where appropriate
• ASK Him “God what do you want from me today?”
• RESPOND quickly.

Do you see…. this is what Jesus was TRYING to says to Martha. Romans 12….”Martha, Martha. Give all that working and walking around to me. Refocus, I want to teach you something.”

And this Advent, He wants to take your cumbersome, burdensome, distracting thoughts from you. He has a gift to give you in their place. Joy. Peace. Hope. Life.

He has the Gift of Himself to give you. And that gift in you will change the world.

Choosing What Is Better:

• Take a journal and list them out. All the burdens that “drive you about” and “drag you down.” Now filter all these thoughts through the four bullet points listed:
• GIVE all your things (eating, sleeping, working, walking around) to God as an offering.
• REFOCUS and FIX your attention back on God – repent where appropriate
• ASK Him “God what do you want from me today?”
• RESPOND quickly.

Lord, you are so loving. You invite me into a safe, peaceful space with you. Free of burdens, worries or fear. You took up a cross and died for me… for my salvation but also for these burdens I have mentioned today. Let me walk freely and lightly in this reality. Let me continually trade my sorrows, fix my eyes and respond quickly to Your voice. Let me choose “what is better”, moment to moment, so I can be a light in the darkness of this world. In Jesus Name, Amen.