The Taker

 “He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’” – Mark 5:34

I heard speaker and author Ann Voskamp say, The greatest gift Jesus gives you is all that He comes to take away...The weight of what He takes away.

We love Jesus the Giver. We don't want to hear about Jesus the Taker, yet He is a Taker, and praise His name that He is. Especially if we will dwell on all that He has taken from our lives that has been a great weight for us to bear. That which caused us great pain and suffering.

The Scripture from Mark has to do with the woman who had a constant menstrual bleeding which rendered her unclean under Jewish law. She had suffered the affliction for 12 years. Jesus took that away. Scripture is filled with so many things that Jesus "took" from people; blindness, lameness, leprosy, even demonic possession. For those who have truly believed upon Him, He took the weight and burden of our sin upon Himself and removed it from us. He took our guilt and pronounced us forgiven. He has taken the sentence of death from us and given us His gift of Life. Yes, His greatest gift to us is in that which He takes away.

Still, as true as this is, there are multitudes who may have believed upon Him for salvation, but have never allowed Him to take away the shame, the condemnation, the fear, and so many other afflictions that the devil is overjoyed to lay upon us. Maybe you are part of that multitude today. Maybe you are living in the place of despair, hopelessness, sorrow, and depression. Perhaps you're enslaved by attitudes of unforgiveness, bitterness, or the effects of abuse and neglect.You may be healthy in body, but sick and lame in your spirit. He came to take such things away, to relieve us of the weight of all of it, but He will not take it by force. We have to give it to Him. We have to release it from our hands, our grip, into His hands. Can you do so? I know it's so hard. You've held onto it for so long. Release it, Surrender it. Let go of the burden of the weight. Be free. Let Jesus the Giver also be the Taker. He will only take that which is killing us by inches, and He'll replace it with life. His Life. Full, free, abundant life.

Blessings,
Pastor O