Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
All people have burdens of one form or another, burdens that weigh on the heart and bring a person to a sense of anxiety, fear, worry, stress, or sadness.
Think about a person who struggles financially. Their expenses are routinely more than their income and every month becomes an exercise in trying to make sure everything gets paid when the reality is that not all can be covered.
Then there’s someone who has seen a relationship become damaged or even end and are under the burden of heartbreak and disappointment.
Sickness and injury happen to us in life, often leaving us in pain or in need of long term treatment (think cancer). These infirmities can weigh us down as we yearn to just be healthy again.
We know that we will die at some time but even with this truth in our minds, we find ourselves carrying the load of grief and sadness after losing someone we love.
And sometimes, we are just shackled by remembering mistakes we have made in life, unable to forgive ourselves. In these instances, we are unwilling to put aside the yoke of discouragement and self blame. We continue to carry them instead.
Yes, we are all under the weight of things, so much so that we become numb to the burdens that others are bearing. For it’s easy to adopt the “I’ve got enough problems of my own” perspective.
But as we see in fifteen words at the start of Galatians 6, this attitude of only caring about one’s own problems violates the very law of Christ, the expectation for Christians to be like Jesus. Look at this command found in verse 2:
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
As we see here, we are to help one another bear the burdens we are all under. The world would say we should only be mindful of ourselves but when we choose to believe and follow Jesus, we are to no longer prescribe to the world’s ways. We have exchanged them for the lifestyle of Jesus who willingly chose to bear the burdens of all mankind on top of His own. Every time we look to the cross, we need to remember this.
For it’s there, back on Calvary’s hill more than 2,000 years ago, that Jesus, the Lamb of God, allowed Himself to suffer and die, which would have been burden enough if He wasn’t also carrying all the sins of mankind. No one has ever carried more weight than that on their shoulders.
Jesus carried our burdens and was willing to die to do so. When we decide to gain salvation through believing Him, we are committing ourselves to live as He did and that includes carrying the burdens of one another.
So how can we do this?
We can offer to talk with people, allowing them to share what is weighing them down. I have often felt that this action, just listening while the burdened person talks about how they feel, results in a kind of purging as the afflicted person is able to unload some of the weight they are under on you, the listener. There’s something very therapeutic about being able to openly talk about what bothers you. I know I have experienced this and maybe you have too.
We can also encourage people. A person under the burdens of life is prone to just want to give up. They could always use a pick me up, a message of support and inspiration. Everyone needs this in life and we all can play the role of an encourager. Jesus certainly worked to encourage others during His ministry and we need to follow His lead.
Finally, we can pray for each other. Perhaps there is no greater sacrificial thing we could do for the person experiencing hardship because we often feel unable to help the person in need but we know who is never helpless in those circumstances. We serve a Lord who is able to do all things and that includes helping us deal with any burden we might be bearing, Jesus intercedes for all people in prayer (Romans 8:34) and we need to intercede for one another.
Yes, we all carry burdens through life but we aren’t meant to carry them alone. Let’s all commit ourselves today to help one another bear the weights that life places on us, just as our Savior Jesus showed us.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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