Jesus Christ Is Relief

I can’t wait to review this when I can pause and replay parts to process all that she is saying here.

Each of us is carrying a metaphorical backpack. It may be a basket balanced on your head or a satchel or a bundle of things wrapped in cloth and thrown over your shoulder. But for our thinking, let’s call it a backpack.

This metaphorical backpack is where we carry the burdens of living in a fallen world. Our burdens are like rocks in the backpack. Generally, there are three kinds:

• Rocks there of our own doing because of sin.
• Rocks in our backpack because of the poor decisions, misconduct, and unkindness of others.
• And rocks we carry because we are living in a fallen condition. These include the rocks of disease, pain, chronic illness, grief, disappointment, loneliness, and the effects of natural disasters.

I joyfully declare that our mortal burdens, these rocks in our figurative backpack, need not feel heavy.

Jesus Christ can lighten our load.

Jesus Christ can lift our burdens.

Jesus Christ provides a way for us to be relieved of the weight of sin.

Jesus Christ is our relief.

All of the rocks with us down but we think of them differently and respond to them differently depending what kind of rock they are.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [that is, relief and peace].

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

That the yoke is easy and the burden is light presumes we get in the yoke with the Savior, that we share our burdens with Him, that we let Him lift our load. That means entering into a covenant relationship with God and keeping that covenant, which, as President Nelson has explained, “makes everything about life easier.” He said, “Yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power.”

When the burden is heavy it is either because we have become unyolked from Christ or because we have started trying to carry some of what He is offering to carry.

So why are we stingy with our rocks? Why would a weary baseball pitcher refuse to leave the mound when a reliever is there ready to complete the game? Why would I insist on maintaining my post alone when the Reliever stands ready to keep it with me?

President Nelson has taught, “Jesus Christ … stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify, and sanctify us.”

So why do we insist on carrying our rocks alone?

It is intended as a personal question for each of you to consider.

For me, it is the age-old vice of pride. “I’ve got this,” I say. “No worries; I’ll get it done.” It’s the great deceiver who wants me to hide from God, to turn away from Him, to go at it alone.

Brothers and sisters, I can’t go at it alone, and I don’t need to, and I won’t. Choosing to be bound to my Savior, Jesus Christ, through the covenants I have made with God, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

“I can do it myself” is one thing. “I’m not willing to listen to someone else” is a different way to carry more than we need to. “I’m embarrassed to be associated with Christ (or the idea of anything spiritual)” is yet another way.

Now let’s return to our own metaphorical backpack.

Repentance, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is what relieves us of the weight of the rocks of sin. And by this exquisite gift, God’s mercy relieves us from the heavy and otherwise insurmountable demands of justice.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ also makes it possible for us to receive strength to forgive, which allows us to unload the weight we carry because of mistreatment by others.

So how does the Savior relieve us of the burdens of living in a fallen world with mortal bodies subject to grief and pain?

Often, He performs that kind of relief through us! As covenant members of His Church, we promise “to mourn with those that mourn” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort.” Because we are “come into the fold of God” and are “called his people,” we “are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light.”

Our covenantal blessing is to partner with Jesus Christ in providing relief, both temporal and spiritual, to all of God’s children. We are a conduit through which He provides relief.

And so, like the friends of the man with palsy, we “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” We “bear … one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” As we do, we come to know Him, become like Him, and find His relief.

If we are the conduit through which He provides relief then we should be happy to partner with anyone else who is providing relief to the children of God. We should look for this opportunities.