Bear One Another’s Burdens

Every week in our Sunday School class, we have time for prayer requests and for praises.

The praises are the power of prayer at work in the lives of those for whom we’ve been praying.

It seems the prayer requests outweigh the praises. Maybe that’s because we don’t always share our good news with others, but we want everyone to pray for us in our time of need.

I get that.

We are getting older alongside our class members. We can only guess but we think the average age of our members would fall somewhere in the 70s. Some are older, a few are younger. It isn’t surprising to hear the many prayer requests each week.

BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS

In Galatians 6:2 (ESV) Paul tells us, Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Jesus knows we need one another. Those days were horrible. Christians were persecuted at every turn. Remember, before his conversion on the Road to Damascus, Paul, a Jew, was a chief persecutor of Christians. Yet, he became the author of the majority of the New Testament.

The world hasn’t changed much since those days has it? Every day we hear of more and more Christians being martyred for the cause of Christ. The way our own country is changing its attitudes toward Jesus Followers, could we be far behind?

It’s a scary thought.

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TAKE HEART!

But Christ told us in John 16:33 (ESV) I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

 If we stop at the first half of that verse, we miss the whole point.

The reason Christ came to earth was to die for us—for the horrible sins we’ve committed. Not one of us could do what He did. It took a spotless sacrificial lamb, one without sin. Christ is the only person who ever walked on this earth who fits that description.

No wonder Paul tells us to bear one another’s burdens. We need each other. We know how the Book ends. We’ve read it. Living in this world from day to day is impossible without others to help us carry those burdens, whatever they may be. Illness, death, prodigal children or grands, divorce, job loss—the list is seemingly endless.

Let me paraphrase and repeat, take heart—Christ has overcome the world. This is why we take our burdens to the cross. Christ won the victory for those of us who believe. And this, my friends, is why we gladly bear one another’s burdens, why we pray for those in need.

CAST YOUR CARES

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP) casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for he cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

Do you have a burden too heavy for you to bear? I’d be honored to pray for you, and take your situation to the foot of the cross.

Blessings, y’all!

I do not know this lady. Do any of you? She sounds good. I haven’t heard this one in a long time. One from my childhood. Taylor Methodist Church, outside of Dothan, AL, where my Granny worshiped.