The Bearing of Burdens

 

As Christians, I'm sure we have all experienced both sides of the instruction in this verse - having our burdens borne by another and being the one who is bearing another's burdens. Either way, the burden is shared, and the overall load of the burden is cut in half.

Knowing we are not alone, in the body of Christ, brings such comfort. There are times that the load feels heavier than we can bear, on our own, and when we are the one doing the suffering, it can be very difficult to have the necessary faith and strength to pray for our own self or situation. During those times, we need someone else to intercede on our behalf. Thank God for dear Jesus who is interceding for us 24/7, non-stop, and praise the Lord for our brothers and sisters in Christ who earnestly pray for us when we don't have the strength to pray for ourselves.

One of the parts of this verse that I have struggled with the most is knowing how to hand over other people's burdens to the Lord. I tend to absorb the pain and heartaches of those I love and care about, taking their burdens on as my own, and allowing them to weigh me down. Often times, I am personally already dealing with my own private pain or burdens and having a difficult time releasing them to the Lord, then when I take on what others are carrying, I become completely overwhelmed.

What the Lord has shown me is "bearing" one another's burdens does not mean absorbing them, feeling responsible for them, and trying to fix everything for everyone who shares their problems and situations with me. "Bear" in the original Greek in this verse literally means "to take up, carry." Bearing another person's burdens means picking them up and carrying those burdens - not permanently on my own shoulders, but to Jesus, then releasing them and laying them down at His feet, and leaving them there.

It brings so much relief and solace when someone says to me, "I'm praying for you." If they are truly doing that, I know that means they are literally picking up my personal burden and carrying it to the only One Who can do anything about it and bring relief. What a gift it is when another person prays for us!

It's so easy for me to say, "I'll be praying for you," then walk away and completely forget to keep my word and make good on my promise to carry another's burden to Jesus. I am so forgetful and often so loaded down with my own. I learned a valuable lesson on this from Kevin's former pastor.

Dad was critically ill, in ICU, after having a heart attack and open heart surgery. I was so worried, heavy laden, and terrified of losing him. As Kevin and I stepped off the hospital elevator after visiting Dad one day, there stood Ron Lentine, the pastor of the church Kevin attended before we got married and moved away from that area. He seemed so happy to see Kevin, and as he took the time to talk to us, I asked him to pray for Dad. Assuming he would agree to do so, then go on his merry way, I was so shocked when he stopped right there in that busy hospital and prayed out loud for Dad. It was the first time I ever had anyone do that, and it left a lasting impression on me. The lesson was not lost on me that I should always do the same. Pastor Ron was literally bearing my burden to the Great Physician, and God heard and answered his and all the other many prayers prayed for Dad and brought him through to live around nine more years!

Since then, Kevin, Zach, and I have prayed prayers in some unlikely places. Is it always comfortable? Well, no. But if there is someone standing in front of me or calling me on the phone asking for prayer, by God's grace, I aim to stop what I am doing and go to prayer for them—right then and there. If I wait, there's a good chance I will forget. I want to treat every one of those cries for help as if it is urgent and needs to be tended to immediately. Because that is exactly what I would hope another person would do for me and my burdens.

Isn't that exactly how Jesus handled people? No matter what He was doing, where He was going, how important the other person was, when He was expected to be there, or why He was doing what He was doing, Jesus stopped in His tracks when a human being was standing in front of Him or crying out for help. He treated that person like they were the only person in the world and like their situation was the only thing that mattered. He immediately met their need. Often, His path only crossed that person's path one time, and that window of opportunity was afterward closed forever. 

It's the same exact way with us as we journey through this life—only meeting and seeing certain people one time, only having those limited windows of  opportunity one time. Oh, may we treat souls as Jesus did!

It doesn't take long to bear another person's burden and carry it to the Lord. Just a prayer right then and there and continued whispered prayers as often as God brings them to our mind—that's all it takes. Each whispered prayer is a reminder to the Lord. Not that He needs reminded, as His eye is on each one of us, but it is His will that we bring those requests for others to Him. And each time we start feeling overwhelmed and tempted to worry about that person or need, all we need to do is keep carrying it back to Him, as many times as it takes. Our God never sleeps. He never tires of hearing our prayers. He bids us come boldly to His throne of grace!

We aren't meant to keep carrying the burdens of others on our own hearts and shoulders. We are only meant to carry them to Him.

*****************************************************************************************************

Don't forget! 

Today and part of tomorrow are the last days to enter our Autumn Giveaway! It's a nice one—13 gifts will be going to one winner, one gift to represent each of the 13 years I have blogged here at Homespun Devotions. If you would like your name to be entered into the giveaway, click here, and follow the instructions in that post. Tomorrow is the big day when the winner's name will be chosen!

******************************************************************************************

In case you'd like to give a listen, here is my latest upload to our Mountain Hope Band YouTube channel.

Whatever you are going through today, I pray you keep your eyes on Jesus! 

Let Him be your vision!

If we look around at the conditions of this world, we will surely start to sink, as Peter did when Jesus bade him walk to Him on the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, He walked in a miraculous way, even though the storm raged around him. But as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus and started focusing on the storm, he left the realm of the miraculous and began to sink.

I don't know about anyone else, but I have never seen world conditions so dark, depressing, discouraging, and terrifying. We dare not take our eyes off Jesus right now, as the storm rages around us! We don't know what is up ahead of us, but HE knows what is up ahead of us. He is going before us, winnowing our path, and even though it doesn't feel like it, He truly is still in control, and all the tumultuous waves are still beneath His feet. 

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

Hebrews 12:1-3

Be of good courage today, dear friends.

Jesus overcame, and so can we!

We win in the end! Praise His holy name!