Have you ever considered yourself a ‘burden’? How does that make you feel? Uncomfortable? Do you understand why? Shift emphasis… How do you feel when someone needs your help? For example: what is your reaction when asked to pray for someone or what if the need is financial? Back to you, when you became aware you needed help and how did you ask for it? How did that make you feel? Relieved… that someone else was helping? Aghast… that you needed help? Wary… that there were strings attached to their help? Delight… that you had a partner to help to resolve your situation? A mix of all that?
For me, I have said (for decades) that the last thing I ever wanted to be is a burden for someone else, especially read ‘financial’! If I had fears, this would top the charts. However, this can also be a delusion, a misapplication of what ‘burden’ means. I think I was operating from the perspective that I had no choice and needed to lean. And somehow that was always applied to material things and then translated into spiritual ones. Talk about a disapprobation.
How does this get translated into a spiritual issue… one that leaves us alone and defenseless? Did you ever consider it was a ploy of the devil?. First: we need each other. We don’t have all the answers? And too often we don’t ask, seek, knock? When it comes to ‘burden’ there are a number of verses, typically thanking God for His relief/rescue. What I’d like to focus on is what scripture says about burdens in relation to each other.
“Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].” Galatians 6:2
GotQuestions – “Galatians 6:2 says,
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The word burden
here means “a weight of personal and eternal significance.” It can refer to a
character flaw, a struggle, or a moral requirement.
Much of our problem/misunderstanding (?) regarding ‘burden’ can come from the apparent contradiction in our understanding of Galatians 6:2 and 5,
“Each one should bear his own load.” [6:5]
Are these verses really contradictory? How can we bear someone else’s burdens if we are each supposed to carry our own loads?”
Do you have your definitions? Do you understand? Knowing that scripture does not contradict itself then how do we reconcile a seeming disparity between Galatians 6: 2 and 5? Or is this merely looking at both sides of the issue?
Bottom line – how we define and act about/on burdens whether our own or someone else the Love of the Lord should be our motivation. Those 2 verses aren’t in contradiction… read them with the heart and mind of love. If you do… you will see how both exist.
[[The final question in all of these discussions always comes back to You! How do you know, understand, incorporate, apply what is relevant to you and your life?! Does it make any difference to you and who you are and are becoming?]]
