Carry One Another’s Burdens
Here is the thing – God has never called us to carry heavy things alone!
Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”
I want us to speak this statement out loud together – YOU ARE NOT SELF-SUFFICIENT, AND NEITHER AM I
Three points the Bible tells us about carrying burdens:
- We were made to need each other
Remember the next time you feel shame for needing help:
- That need is not a defect
- It is God’s design
Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”
Galatians 6:5 “for each one should carry their own load.”
This looks like a contradiction – Paul uses two different Greek words in these verses:
Verse 2 – baros – A crushing load
Verse 5 – Phortion – A normal load to carry everyday
Paul is essentially saying:
- Each of us should carry our own pack and not burden others
- But nobody should carry a crushing load alone
WHO IS ON YOU ROPE?
- We are called to show up for each other
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Job 2:11-13 “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”
Mark 2:1-5 “A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
- We must be willing to be carried
Why is it so hard to let someone else carry us?:
- Part of it is pride
- Part of it is shame
- Part of it is fear
- Part of it is humility
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves are comforted of God”
Psalms 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.”
The way God has chosen to bring comfort to others is through the Body of Christ!
