Necessary Weights!

You are hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! You keep meticulous account books tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s law, things like fairness, compassion and commitment, the absolute basics, (the necessary weights) you carelessly take it or leave it! Matthew 23:23 The Message

Probably twenty plus years ago, some of our couple friends decided that it would be fun for all of us to learn to scuba dive! There was among us a dive master, an assistant dive master, and the rest of us who did not have a clue! There are many things which a diver needs. I learned that among these necessities are a mask, flippers, a snorkel, an air tank, and a weight belt.

As we learned the basics of scuba diving and prepared to fly off to the Caribbean where we would take a test, become certified divers, and do some diving, I remember wondering why we would need a weight belt? The weight belt is interesting because it has pockets where one can add weights or take them out depending on how much weight is needed to keep a person submerged. I ascertained that I had more than enough weight on my body to do the trick so it probably wasn’t necessary for me,

The day of our first dive arrived, and as we “geared up” on the boat, the weight belt I wore seemed unnecessarily heavy, so I reached in and took out a couple of the weights. We entered the water, did our slow descent, and began to enjoy the beauty around us. Slowly, I noticed that it was taking an inordinate amount of energy for me to stay submerged and keep up with the others. As I floated closer to the surface and further away from the others, it dawned on me that some weights just might be necessary weights.

There are times in life when our burdens or trials seem like weights which encumber our lives, cause us undo stress, and hold us submerged in anxiety and apprehension. It would be so easy to reach in that belt of life, take each weight out, and rid ourselves of the trouble.

There are so many things we would miss in this life if we took away all the necessary weights. We would miss the weight of life’s journey. Life’s journey can be wonderful, peaceful, positive, but it can also be difficult. No one ever said the journey of life would always be easy and sometimes it is exhausting, but if we look at life as happening for us instead of to us, it is a blessed time of discovery. Take that weight and turn it into a blessing.

We would miss the necessary weight of compassion. Love in action or compassion should be the center of every Christian’s life. Expressing empathy for one another’s struggles and suffering isn’t enough. We need to turn that empathy into action as we show our compassion and love in concrete deeds of love.

Patience is a necessary weight. It is so hard to exercise patience especially when a wrong has been done to us. The scriptures teach us that just because we don’t understand what God is doing, does not mean that He doesn’t have a plan. The best place to learn patience is from God as we realize how patient He is with us all the time.

The necessary weight of forgiveness is a heavy one to bear, and it would be so easy to take that weight out of our belt and live in unforgiveness. Yet, how many times does Jesus forgive us on a daily basis?

Perseverance is a necessary weight. Even in the darkest times, God promises enrichment to any person who perseveres through hardships. As Christians, we encounter many obstacles to our faith, but Jesus inevitably overcomes if we just persevere. God calls us to look beyond the burdens or cost and persevere to the rewards.

At the end of our dive adventure, we had an opportunity to participate in a shark dive. Unbeknownst to me and some of the others, the purpose of this dive is to gather on the bottom of the ocean, kneel on the sand, stay perfectly still, and watch as hundreds of sharks attack a lowered frozen chum of fish. The weight belt is the only thing that stands between you and the hungry sharks. How grateful I am that I added some weight that day and stayed securely anchored on the bottom

There are times when we are tempted to lighten the load by ignoring the necessary weights of this life, but if we do, we will miss the beauty that is found during the struggle.

Julius Richter said, Our burdens (weights) sometimes seem like a tombstone hung around our necks. Yet, in reality is simply the weight necessary to hold the diver down while he is searching for pearls.

For there in the journey and stuck in the sting, the struggle, the struggle, is what gives you wings. Karen Kingsbury