Ryan P. Chandler - Professional Services, Pastoral Care

The last straw

04/20/2008 08:22 PM
There is a saying that has different variations.  That's the last straw."  Or "the straw that broke the camel's back" or other similar variations.  The simple message is that there is a certain point where we can exceed our limit for most everything.  My mother used to joke when I was young that if you pick up a newborn calf, and continue to pick it up everyday, one day you can pick up a cow.  In theory, it sounds intriguing.  If you can pick something up today, most likely, you can pick it up tomorrow.  But the reality is that Even Hulk Hogan can't bench press a cow.  They're like at least a half a ton or the weight of a small car.  That's sort of the same message of the straw that broke the camel's back, isn't it?  There is quite a bit that a camel can carry, and if we were to load one up with hay, one straw at a time, it may seem like there is no way we could exceed the camel's ability, but at some point, there will be a single straw that will take the load from bearable to unbearable; from possible to impossible; from back sparing to back breaking.  And our immediate response is to say that that is in fact the straw that broke the camel's back.  Is this true?  Well, the camel was fine before the straw, then couldn't bear the load after the straw, so that about covers it right?  But let's take the entire load off of the camel  and then replace the culpable straw that was identified as the straw that broke the camel's back.  if that last straw now went on first, there probably would not be a problem with bearing that load.  The problem isn't so much the last straw, as it is the total amount of straws the camel has collected over a period of time.  The order is not necessarily the order of importance or severity, but rather the order of occurrence.  It's easy to imagine ourselves in the place of the camel, isn't it?  We go through our lives and collect a ton of stuff on our backs.  We carry it all around, and each day we add to the load.  We start to falter under the load and wonder how we can get through the day with our load intact.  That becomes our goal next; to just get through the day.  One day at a time.  If we can just get through the day, then we can rest, right?  But what happens when we get up?  The load is not just waiting there for us to put back on our backs, it's already on our backs before we even wake up.  it never left its place on our backs.  Then we begin to falter more.  We start to show cracks in our load bearing ability before the day is over.  Maybe we snap at our children, yell at our spouse or fight with our girlfriend.  And that doesn't lighten the load either, it simply adds to it.  Then finally at some point, directly related to, indirectly related to, or independent of our existing load, the last straw come along.  Sometimes the last straw may take the form of a cashier who we decide is too slow.  Maybe it takes the form of a child who can't sit still.  Maybe it takes the form of a spouse who burns dinner.  Whatever the form it takes, this is usually the form that we need to direct the entire load of our backs onto.  We tend to take everything that we had been carrying around for days, weeks, even years sometimes, and dump it all on them.  If only this last straw were not here, I could be able to cope with my load just fine like I was doing before.  If we're stuck in traffic, if only the cars in front of us were gone, my life would be perfect.  If we're behind on bills, then only if I had money in the bank would my life be perfect.   If we are suffering from poor health, then a healthy body would be the key to a problem-less life.  The funny thing is, for every person behind on their bills who is convinced that more money is the solution to their problems, there is a person with a million dollars in the bank who is broken, who only wished that their money could buy the cure that their body needs or buy communication with their wife.  There is a saying I like to use and that is that the person who thinks that having a million dollars in the bank will bring them happiness is the person without a million dollars in the bank.  The person who has a million dollars in the bank will be the first to tell you that they have problems too.  The greatest problems facing our lives tend to take the form of those last straws or the last straw because the are the freshest in our minds.  The early straws were put in place so long ago that we have gotten used to carrying them around.  They have become part of us.  In many cases, we miss them when they are taken away.  Isn't that strange?  It's like the situation that is known where the kidnapped victim becomes dependent on the kidnapper.  We get so accustomed to carrying our burdens around that we wouldn't know what to do without them.  The thing of it is, I am 100% convinced that we all have our breaking point.  There is, without a doubt in my mind, that all of us have a point where a last straw could be added to our load and we would crumble under the combined weight.  That's just who we are as humans.  Some of us can take more than others, but there is still a point where too much is too much.  And we collapse, we break, we retreat or we lash out.  That's what the outcome eventually is.  When we keep adding to our load, it is inevitable that our load will exceed our capacity.  Wouldn't it be great if there was someway that as we got burdens laid on us, that we could remove them?  Like a garbage truck that picks up trash.  When it gets full enough, it goes back to the facility, and empties out its contents and has room for more.  So there would never be a point where we were in danger of reaching our capacity because there was a facility that could remove the excess off of us.  Thank God there is.  Hallelujah, praise God, there is rest from our burdens.  There is comfort for the asking.  As loaded down as we all are, there are actually a couple of loads that we are carrying.  Oh yeah, and we're responsible for the weight of both of those loads.  One load represents the sin in our life. We start carrying that load when we're young.  The first time we talk back to mom.  The first time we lie to dad.  That sin load starts to grow.  Now there are consequences that result from our sin, but those consequences go into our life burdens load.  The same load that all our money or relationship problems go.  That's the load that we usually see as the bad load that weighs us down, but that load is rooted and much of it is resulted from our sin load.  The consequence of carrying around our burdens is that we stumble and are stressed by its weight.  the consequence for carrying around our sin is a little more severe.  The Bible says in Romans 6:23 that the wages or punishment of our sin is death.  Isn't that a little severe though?  Just because we may tell a single lie that we should die?  The truth is though, we don't stop at that single lie.  If we were to add up all the sins we have collected throughout our lives, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.  And God is a perfect God that can't coexist with our imperfection.  Something has to pay for that sin.  The good news is that there is a facility that can remove that sin load from our backs.  That facility is Jesus Christ.  Jesus took our place in by giving His own life so we wouldn't have to.  Is that some serious love or what.  He loved us so much and knew what it would do to us to be accountable for our own sins that He took our place in death.  When Jesus Christ came to earth as gets celebrated at Christmas time, and when he died on the cross as is remembered each Easter, He took our sin load from us.  When He carried His cross. He was carrying our sin load.  He was carrying your sins and my sins on His back.  And now if we trust Him to be the Savior of our lives, we trust that He is saving us from our sins through His death.  That load is gone and we will be able to live with Jesus forever because we are made perfect through Him.  We don't have to revisit it or feel guilty about it because it is taken away.  The garbage truck driver doesn't think about or worry about the load in his truck that he dumped out, that load is gone.  The cool thing also that happens when we trust Jesus with our sin, is that He doesn't just take it and leave us alone.  He stays with us, and He helps us carry our other load, our burdens.  The thing to understand, is that unlike our sins, Jesus doesn't remove our burdens from off of our backs, but He will spot us like a partner in the gym when we're lifting weights.  If the burden gets too much to bear, He will help us carry the load.  He will never leave us alone to deal with it on our own.  Sure there are times when we won't relinquish the our burdens to Him, but that is that old nature in us that has gotten used to carrying these burdens around.  The truth is, the only last straw that we may experience that is too much for us to bear is the one that we allow to fall squarely on us with no help from Christ.  Remember, if we are to live with Jesus forever, he is wanting us to get to know Him now.  What is He all about?  We will break at some point if we only rely on our own strength.  When God Himself is willing to share our burdens with us, there is no last straw.  There is no breaking point.  The ride may be bumpy or even rocky at times, but there will be a point where the roughest part is behind us and we will pull into that station.  And yes, Christ will be there, welcoming us with open arms.  And we will remember that He loves us because of what He has already done for us. Until next time.
Grace and Glory.
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