LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT!

Sunday, May 17, 2020

LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT!

Gal 6:2-5

2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

5 For every man shall bear his own burden.

Deut 1:12

12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

Day after we shoulder the things that must be carried. Some are very real things and common while other things are silly things and personal. Still other things are only imagined and perhaps these are the heaviest of all. We carry them every day. Today’s selected portion shows us several things to consider.

1.      Bearing and Sharing Burdens is a requirement. It’s the Law!

Ex 23:5

5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

We are a brotherhood of burden bearers. The law challenges our pettiness and selfishness and prepares us for the age of grace under the administration of Jesus. It acknowledges our emotions – “But this guy hates me!”  It challenges us to ignore our emotions and simply respond to the need at hand.

How often do our emotions and opinions keep us from practically helping our brother? How often does helping our brother CHANGE our emotions and opinions? This is the reason for the law.

2.      Our Pride needs to be Challenged!

“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” This is a curious stone to place in the center of the setting. Does it belong here? 

The simple statement is altered by its setting. The idea is that we often think ourselves to be the example of Christian charity when the opposite is true. We are harsh and often judgmental. Like Samson without his hair we are much weaker than we think.

3.      Nobody can do our job!

“But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

We cannot and must not compare our work and our station in life with others. The farmer longs to be a carpenter while the carpenter is longing to be the farmer! One works in the city from dawn to dusky dark and inhales the fumes of society while another tills and breathes the land. Both have the opportunity to finish the day either frustrated or satisfied that they have done their best work. The choice is theirs. It is foolish for one to say to the other that his task is the most important and the most difficult.

4.      Every man shall bear his own burden!

Some burdens cannot be shared! The most generous and gracious of friends cannot carry these for us. They are personal to us alone. Often, they are quite heavy. The Bible is clear that we will one day give an accounting of ourselves to God.

2 Cor 5:10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Dear Lord, although I already carry my own burden, let me lighten the load of my brother today. AMEN