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Ask any champion weightlifter if he or she would like to carry that extra three hundred to four hundred pounds around with them on a daily, 24/7 basis. Of course, the answer would be an emphatic “NO!”. It is fine and dandy to lift three hundred pounds over the head, hold for ten seconds (or more) and then let drop with a bang and clank of the weights rattling together. But does anyone want to strap that extra poundage on their back and carry it around? Bathe with it? Sleep with it? Play with it? How ridiculous! But we Christians do it all the time.

Oh, it isn’t the black iron circular shape thingy with a hole in the middle, but it is black and it is definitely heavier than iron. It weighs down the mind like an anchor dragging the bottom of the sea when the alternative could be an open sail full of the salty, brisk breeze carrying the ship on a sure course. What is “it”, exactly? We will identify those stones you carry around with you when Jesus’ clear message of the cross was “No stones. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

Now, we have the command, how do we do it?

2 Corinthians 4

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. … 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

The inward man is being renewed every day. How fabulous. Our Eternal Father gave us the Eternal Holy Spirit to renew that Eternal part of us, our inward man, our soul which is bound with godly creativeness and godly glue to the Holy Spirit. That means that it is being done without us doing anything because we are the earthen vessels, the jars of clay, the fragile vase of clay, so that the incredible and awesome power of God may be seen, that it is all of Him and does not originate in us. The power of God's light shines in us because of God, not because of us.

How bright it will shine, depends upon how clean the glass is.

There are many Christians that have stayed in the wilderness, never crossing the Jordan River on dry ground because when they came to their Gilgal, they could not cross the Jordan on faith. They don’t even put their feet in the water, much less pick up their stone from the middle of the river as a remembrance. (Joshua) These Christians are content to wander around in the wilderness…never entering the Promised Land of milk and honey. They are content with living the life of hardship, with just their needs being met and content with the miracle of that instead of accepting God’s promises of blessings. It is a question of maturity and immaturity, a question of babes in Christ and soldiers in Christ.

We Christians carry the stones around all the time because we don’t recognize them as stones. We do not trust God enough to let Him carry them, or crush them. Christians carry them about because they don’t know how to put them down. These Christians do not know how to look past the stones to the joy and freedom beyond the stones.

What are these stones?
premeditated murder Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12-14,22,23
kidnapping Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7
striking or cursing parents Exodus 21:15; Leviticus 20:9; Proverbs 20:20
magic and divination Exodus 22:18
bestiality Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20
sacrificing to false gods Exodus 22
profaning the Sabbath Exodus 35; Numbers 15
human sacrifice Leviticus 20
incest Leviticus 20
homosexuality Leviticus 20
blasphemy Leviticus 24
false prophecy Deuteronomy 13
rebelliousness Deuteronomy 17
fornication Deuteronomy 22
rape of betrothed virgin Deuteronomy 22

You say, “But, wait! I’ve done none of those things.”

What about worry, fretting, gossip, putting spouse, children, work, hobby ahead of or in place of God, stinginess, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, road rage, speeding, fudging taxes, justification/rationalization of any sinful behavior, desiring something someone else has (not one like it, but that thing), any secret sin that lays in the heart festering the soul? Any one or more of these things is the same and carries the same sentence as murder because once you’ve broken one part of the law, you’ve broken all of it.

The Law identified sin, gave it a name and exposed it to the light. Because of this, there were many sins that were identified that deserved stoning. Because He loved us, He died for us paying the price for each sin. Each one of those stones were cracked and laid to waste because of the all consuming power of the Lord God Almighty who raised His Son from the dead, removing forever the sting of death which is sin. If even one of those things listed above were punishable by death, then the least is also punishable by stoning.

Most people can look at this list and say “I haven't done any of these things!” In fact a young rich man said this right to Jesus' face. The problem, as James' points out is that whoever stumbles in one point of the law is guilty of breaking all of it. James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

God has many blessings prepared for us, but we have to show Him we are mature enough to have the blessings. We must show Him that we can turn the talent into five talents and not just bury it until He returns.

Admittedly, Paul tells us our enemy is not flesh and blood but the dark principalities and the wicked spiritual hosts. Our enemy is not each other, but Satan. But, sometimes our worst enemy is our weighty thinking. We pick up the sack of burdens every morning before we get out of bed and lots of times, we get in bed with that sack of burdens. If we could but recognized who the real enemy is then we could present a united front and the stones would land on the shields of faith instead of being tossed about within God’s army, or within our own hearts.

I have said this before, and I’ll probably go to my grave saying it, “The message of the Cross is no stones.”

We have been given over 1000 commands from Jesus and the Apostles to live by as Christians. It is impossible to live them within our own strength and in fact that was God's whole point. Breaking one makes us guilty of breaking all. Since all fall short of the glory of God and since no man is sinless—who can cast the stones? Only the Sacrificed Lamb is worthy to take the scroll. Only Jesus is worthy to cast stones…but He will never do that to those who step out in faith and trust Him, honor Him and follow His commands.

If we keep the glass clean, if we continually wash ourselves in His Word, and if we confess our sins, aligning ourselves with God, asking Him to guard our thoughts and deeds, then God’s all powerful light will shine brightly. Ephesians 5:26 that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the washing of the water in the Word, 27 that He might present it to Himself as the glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such things, but that it be holy and without blemish.

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

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