Buckaroo

Do you remember it? It’s a game we played as children or maybe as adults!

Why am I thinking of this today?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. “(Hebrews 12 v 1-3)

Wow! What an incredible few verses. Try memorise them they will be good for your soul!

Anyway back to Buckaroo. The idea is in turn to place items on the donkey’s back without causing it to buck up on its front legs resulting in the items flying off in all directions! It is a great game. It is something that is a replica of what life is like for many.

You are called to run a race of perseverance but the main thing that slows you down is the weight that gets placed upon you. Today you may be carrying some weighty item that God never placed on you nor asked you to carry.

1. Questions that have no answers. There is one question that the following verses all speak of; Psalm 2:1; 10:1; 22:1; 42:5; 42:9; 74:11; 88:14 (check them out). The question that is so heavy for anyone to carry: why? There are things that you will never be able to change or understand. The why attached to that situation can be a heavy load to carry.
2. Sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). You may not doubt Christ’s ability to forget and cleans sin and yet it is still so easy to carry the weight of sin around. We forget God’s power to forget! “You will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea,” (Micah 7:19). It is a heavy load.
3. Hurt. How easy to pick this up. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13) As God’s forgiveness contains forgetfulness we must develop the art of forgetting where people have wronged us. It is amazing how much we can remember and how far back. It is a heavy load we are not called to carry.
4. Worry. The ‘what if this happens’, ‘maybe this will happen’. The lyric of the song says, ‘Because He lives I can face tomorrow’. “Do not worry about tomorrow …” (Matthew 6:34) It is a heavy load to carry.
5. Love for the world. We are continually attacked by every kind of temptation, attraction and distraction. “Do not love the world or the things in the world …” (1 John 2:15)

Just 5 items. There are 12 items in the Buckaroo game but many more in our world.

How are you going to run with these items that have been placed upon you? How are you ever going to know the burden of God’s heart? How will He ever place on you a conviction, a cause, a need for the world, even if Jesus did say it was a light burden? You cannot carry anymore.

What slows down an athlete? Is it because they are not fit enough? Is it their legs? Perhaps their lung capacity? None of these. For an athlete to be successful they have to unload low confidence, anxiety, nervousness and intense pressure. They are needless burdens that prevent their success.

It has gone past the time of bucking your legs and throwing “off everything that hinders and the sin that entangles”.

We have to forcefully lay aside every weight that we are not called to carry. “Cast all your cares/anxieties on Him …” (1 Peter 5:7)

Right now be violent with the things that are on you that God has never asked you to carry.