“For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light”

I got picked this week to serve on a criminal trial jury.  Wednesday will be day 3 of the trial.  At the beginning of the process a jurist is read the constitutional rights of a defendant and our entire justice system is predicated on the premise that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty and the entire burden of proof resides with the prosecution.  So, literally, a defendant’s attorney would not need to do anything if she/he believes that the prosecution is not proving guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt.  When issues are approached that way, like what happens in a courtroom, it changes everything.  There is no “He said” or “She said”, unless what was really said can be backed up with proof of what was said, by the people who said it.  There are no speculations that can’t be established as proof and there is no hyperbole about what might have or could have been.  I have thought more than once while in the juror’s seat that if we operated more in business and society with the burden of proof how much less antagonistic and forgiving we would be with each other.  Think how many times a day that we start with “They are wrong” versus, “They are right until proven they aren’t”.

And I am reminded once again of how God’s love is so amazing.  Yes, amazing is the grace and mercy that we each receive daily from Him where in a nano-second we each could be condemned for what we have done, or will do, but God doesn’t see it that way.  He sees that we carry our own burden and that He doesn’t care at all about proving anything with us.  All He cares is that we bring all of our wrongs to Him for Him to sweep away eternally so that we can someday enter into His presence without blemish or fault.  The verdict He wants us to make is one of choice and living with Him.  That’s the burden we carry and the gift that is ours to receive.

Reference:  Matthew 11:30 (New Living Translation)