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“Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens”
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What is our responsibility as Christians to help those around us in need?  It seems there is a countless number of needs in our world.  How can we possibly even make a dent in them?
 
When I was still a young pastor we had a family in our church that had a desperate need.  Their electric was going to be turned off if our church family did not help them pay their bill.  They had three young children and it was a very cold winter.  We couldn’t possibly let them have their electric turned off.  Our church was struggling financially at the time and did not have the money so I gave the money to meet their need. 
 
The next week their gas was going to be turned off.  Then it was their water, I caught on quickly.  I was forced to search the Bible to see exactly what God wanted us to do.  I turned to Galatians 6.  I read in verse 2 that we are to bear each other’s burdens.  Then I read in verse 5 that every man shall bear his own burdens.  I remember thinking, “This isn’t fair!  For us who endeavor to obey God we have to take care of ourselves and everyone else!”  I knew this would never work.
 
Then I opened this text in its original language; the Greek New Testament.  I was surprised at what I found.  The Greek word for “burdens” in verse 2 is different than the word for “burdens” in verse 5. 
 
Both Greek words are shipping terms.  The word for “burdens” in verse 2 is  Barei.   This is a shipping term referring to an overload.  This is not a normal freight that the ship is made for.  Have you ever seen a large truck with a large piece of equipment on it?  The load is so big that it is hanging over the white line and the yellow line of the roads at the same time.  The truck has a sign on it that says, “Oversize Load.”  This is the meaning of the word for “burdens” in verse 2.  God says when another person has an overload that he cannot handle on his own, come beside him and help him carry that load.
 
I am very good and justifying anything I want.  For many years I would justify not helping those around me in need. I would justify my selfishness by saying that the other person was in that mess because of his bad choices or he really did not have a need, it was just a want.  

God does not ask us to judge the people around us with  “overloads,” He just tells us to help them.  This means to truly help them carry their loads, not just say, “I will pray for you.”  The Epistle of James addresses this tendency we have to say comforting words and not meet needs.  James says if we say, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled” without giving them the things they need, what good does it do them?  I John 3:17 asks the question, how can the love of God dwell in us if we see a brother have a need and we have what they need and we don’t give to them?
 
But what about the people who continually have needs?  Every church has experienced the people who say they need money but will not work.  Verse 5 of Galatians 6 says every man shall bear his own burdens.  The Greek word here for “burdens” (fortion) is the shipping term meaning a normal everyday load.  It is my responsibility to meet my needs and my family’s everyday needs. 
 
I knew what I had to do to help this young man in our church.  I sat him down and taught him this passage.  I helped him find a job and taught him how to live on a budget.  Soon he was meeting his own needs. 
 
We often have a distorted view of the Early Church.  We tend to think they were destitute.  Actually there were strong business people in the Early Church who did well financially.  The difference between them and us today is they generously helped other believers who were poor.  Paul took up an offering from the believers at Corinth and Galatia for the poor Christians who were in Jerusalem.  Why were they poor? Because the Roman government had taken their money, businesses, homes, and possessions.  Although these believers had lost all they worked hard for, they would not turn their backs on what God had called them to do.  When those in the church were hurting, persecuted, and tortured, the other believers came to help them carry their burdens.
 
I have seen numerous times in our churches today when a believer was hurting (usually not financially), not only did the church not help that person, they turned their backs on them!  God, please forgive us!
 
If our purpose in life were the same as that of the Early Church, meeting the needs around us would be natural.  We would look for others struggling under a heavy load.  We would be thrilled to walk beside someone who needs us.  The believers in the Early Church generously gave of their time and resources because they lived to build God’s kingdom.  They believed it was their responsibility to prepare for return of the Messiah.   If we truly believed our time, talents, and possessions were loaned to us by God as tools to do our “kingdom assignment” then we would freely share them to help others carry their  “overloads”.
 
© Dr. Steven L Smith 2016
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