What Makes the Christian's Burden Light?

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Updated July 02, 2021

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We can examine the burden of sin to see Christian lightness by way of comparison. Considering one example of a covetous soul, Chrysostom writes: “For as one can never see the sea without waves, so neither such a soul without anxiety, and despondency, and fear, and disturbance; yea, the second overtakes the first, and again others come up, and when these are not yet ceased, others come to a head.”

Similarly, he writes about those with scorn toward others: “Why, what is worse than this torture? what, than the wounds they have within? What, than the furnace that is continually burning, and the flame that is never quenched?”

Yet, the Christian’s self-command breeds contentment. Our calling in Christ is to make it our unshifting aim to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9). The believer is given everything sufficient for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and the corresponding determination we seek to make of fitting behavior for our life situations means we are without inner anxiety, despondency, or fear in them.

We can take command of ourselves and evaluate the responses that Christ would give us for meeting our life assignments. According to Chrysostom, we ought to take joy in this process of obedience: “if we practise self-command, all these things [sufferings] are light and easy, and pleasurable.” This outlook rejects false burdens of the world and takes hold of the lightness, pleasure, and contentment of sincerely standing as God’s works in progress on the path of Jesus Christ and His ways. We seek His ways while resting in His acceptance of us — acceptance that comes to us both ultimately and along the way by His grace.

Christ gives us rest. When trials come and we meet them with meekness, we rest in being worthy of following the holy pattern of the risen Lord. When we attain righteousness, we rest in the reality of Christ within us, willing to lead us and use us. And when we practice self-command — in contradistinction to the convulsing character of all on the path of sin and death—we rest in knowing we have chosen our way based upon our unchanging aim to please Him while confident in His acceptance of us through Christ’s righteousness.

Chrysostom writes: “He [Christ] said not, ‘I will save you,’ only; but what was much more, ‘I will place you in all security.’” And so, we are secure — always — because His burden, the only burden that corresponds to the Christian, is our protective rest.

This life invariably has trials, but the Christian climbs within the burden of Christ to learn of Him through them. We start to see our trials through the way Christ has set for us to live. There, we see the God who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and did not come to judge but to save (John 12:47). We see the one who welcomes us with freedom and for freedom such that our burden is one that leads to rejoicing, being raised on high, and a way of spiritual life regulated according to Christ’s gentle leading in the truth.

So come, all who labor and are heavy laden — come to Christ in this present age before the coming judgment. Trade your burden for His, and you will find rest for your soul.

Schaff, Philip, ed. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Vol. 10. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888.

Lianna Davis is author of Keeping the Faith: A Study in Jude and Made for a Different Land: Eternal Hope for Baby Loss. She is also a contributor to We Evangelicals and Our Mission with Cascade Books. Lianna is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter. You can learn more about her writing at her website.

What Makes the Christian's Burden Light?

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