How much do you think your sins weigh? Just your personal screw-ups and errors? I know mine weigh plenty.

In Pilgrims Progress Bunyan wrote: “Up this way, therefore, did burdened CHRISTIAN run; but not without great difficulty, because of the load on his back. “He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a Cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulcher. So I saw in my dream, that just as CHRISTIAN came up to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble; and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.”

Have you intentionally taken your sins to the foot of the cross and let go of them? I find I cannot grow until I let loose of them.

Have you ever tried to move a piece of tree that has fallen or been cut down? I blew out my back once thinking I could move just a log, about 30 inches around but only 20 inches long. Partially ruptured a disc that still gives me fits years later. Now I find out by an on-line search that a sugar maple branch that is 10 inches on one end, 12 inches on another and 3 feet long can weigh 123 pounds!

So often I see crosses in this day and age, made from wood, but on close examination you can see that the shape is made of wooden planks and hollow on the inside. I know that is more practical for hanging on a wall or erecting in a yard, but imagine if they were solid wood like His was?

Can you imagine the weight of the cross beam that the Lord had to carry to Golgotha? The actual weight of the wood and the additional weight of our sins must have made it tremendously heavy! 1 Peter 2:24 (NIV 2011) says “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

The cross used in Roman crucifixions consisted of two parts: “the upright or mortise, referred to as the stipes, or staticulum, and the tenon or crosspiece, which is called the patibulum or antenna.” “In Mark 15:36, the scripture reads that Jesus was offered a sponge with vinegar stuck to a hyssop reed. The average height of a male in that time period was approximately 5 feet, and the reed of a hyssop averages 1 to 2 feet long. These figures indicate that the cross was approximately 7 to 9 feet tall. The patibulum that Jesus’ arms were outstretched and nailed to was likely 5 to 6 feet long. The entire cross is estimated to have weighed well over 300 pounds.” https://www.reference.com/world-view/were-dimensions-jesus-cross-406d63ed53e6b194?qo=contentSimilarQuestions

The horizontal bar known as the patibulum had a weight of between 75 and 125 pounds. Some believe that this is the only part of the cross that was carried. https://www.reference.com/world-view/much-did-cross-weigh-jesus-carried-299ed7bac97a3f86

“In the Passion of the Christ movie, Jim Caviezel was seemingly the perfect candidate to play Jesus Christ. What you may not have known is that he experienced a shoulder separation when the 130-pound cross was dropped unto his shoulder.” That scene is still in the movie. “That was a heavy cross. It was probably more than half the weight of a typical Jewish man. It took great inner strength for Jesus to carry such a weight after being severely scourged with a cat-o-nine whip, hit in the head with a reed, had a crown of thorn pressed into his head, and abandoned by all his friends. “Jim did it with a separated shoulder, though we are sure he did not traverse the full length of the journey but the pain in his face during that scene would have been real.” Read more at https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/movies/galleries/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-passion-of-the-christ-movie.aspx?p=2#3m5q2PY4OhVyx0Tb.99

God says that you are worth all the pain and suffering that Jesus endured. He would have done it if you were the only person on earth. In Isaiah 49:14-16 (NIV 2011) we read “But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” And God replied: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

You are precious in His sight. Drop your sins at the foot of His cross and let them fall into the abyss. Thank Him today for each and every blessing and especially His sacrifice on your behalf. Walk with Him, talk with Him, rejoice that He has called you His own!