Have you ever heard of an experiment conducted by a teacher in front of a class? The teacher asked his students to hold a very light pebble. For the first 2-3 minutes, all the students felt this experiment was very strange and useless. But after 30 minutes, the students began to feel that their hands, which had been holding the light pebble, gradually became heavy. One by one, they started to lower their hands because they were stiff. Yet, the weight they were holding had not increased at all! After they all gave up, the teacher explained that what made their hands stiff was not the pebble itself, but because hands are not designed to hold an object for a long period. “Well, like hands,” the teacher continued, “our hearts are also not designed to hold burdens. No matter how small the burden we keep in our hearts, over time our hearts will also become stiff.” The moral of the story from the teacher’s experiment is that we should not keep burdens in our hearts, no matter how small they are. Ah, so that’s it, the students who were annoyed earlier now understood. They were satisfied with their teacher’s experiment and then lived happily ever after. Hmm, but that’s not what happened.
We often interpret that small pebble as a burden, and then we translate that burden as problems, sins, and the like. Yes, that is true, do not keep problems or sins. Instead, convey whatever is bothering your heart to Him through prayer. I agree with that. But it’s not just that. I mean, what about blessings? What about God’s love? I must apologize in advance if I’m going to disappoint you, but I have to say that our hearts and lives are also not designed to store blessings or even God’s love. Yes, I admit that this is bad news for people who deeply love blessings, whose hands hold so tightly to all of God’s goodness. But I already apologized earlier, didn't I?
In Matthew 10:8, Jesus said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” So at that time, Jesus was sending out His 12 disciples to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. And for that purpose, Jesus equipped them with extraordinary power. The power Jesus gave was not meant to be kept, but to be shared with the villagers or city dwellers they would visit. The principle in that verse is: freely you receive, freely you shall give. And this principle also applies to other good things from God in our lives. Yes, including blessings, meaning money, meaning wealth that God has given us in our lives. Yes, I know, I know, this editorial is getting more and more annoying. But, once again, I already apologized earlier, didn’t I?
The main purpose of that verse was not for the disciples to show off their power, but to declare God's glory to others. Ah, of course, you have no problem with that principle, because you already know that the focus of this life is indeed to glorify God. And what is included in the category of “life” is blessing. God blesses us so that we may bring glory to Him. Once again, I remind you, fam, I already apologized, you know.
May the Lord Jesus bless you.