A Prayer for when you're under the weight of sin by Tiffany Tabault, read by Liam

Martin. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. So I'm

65-3. The current mantra of our society seems to be that I must tell myself that

I am worthy, I am smart, I'm enough, I am capable, I am loved, and so on. To be

truly happy and fulfilled, I must say, believe and live, these words. However, these words

are not complete truth. You see, regardless of how much I personally affirm myself and

try to build myself up, this affirmation still fails to cover one very important aspect

of the state of my soul. I'm a sinner. I may appear to do all the right things and

be a nice person, but as a human, I'm hardwired to do the things we humans like to explain

or excuse away, and God gave us a word for this. That word is sin.

Sin is anything we do that misses the mark of God's perfect holiness. It causes a separation

between God and you. Sin is anything that breaks the heart of God, sin is anything that

causes hurt to another. Sin makes us unclean and unworthy to stand before God, and no

number of cultural labels can cover our sin, or make us good enough as a sinner to stand

in the presence of God. Our sins not only cause us to be separated from God, but leave

us lonely and overwhelmed under sin's consequences. Our souls feel heavy as we try to walk through

life bearing sins ugly weight. Dumping sins weight off our shoulders isn't as easy as reciting

personal mantras. Getting rid of sin requires us to face it head on, facing all of its

real ugliness. We must recognize that carrying sin around has kept us trapped in a prison.

Our verse, though, gives us a solution to that. We don't have to walk under the weight

of our sins. We don't have to be overwhelmed by the way of carrying the burden of it. There

is only one way to rid ourselves of our sins. We must recognize that it was Jesus who died

...