In the Spirit of Love, Bear Each Other’s Burdens

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. – Galatians 6:2.  “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” –Romans 15:1.  “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” –John 15:13 (ESV).

Two days we thought about Jesus’ teaching that the greatest of the commandments is for us to love one another.  We looked at the family unit based on love, mutual respect and the desire to help each other grow into loving, serving individuals.  Today we consider helping others bear their burdens as being a result of the love we feel in our hearts for our fellow human beings.  “But I have enough burdens of my own,”  you might say, “without seeking to help others with their life loads.  I am limited in what I can do, and my own come first.”  Yes; we are limited, oftentimes in time, energy and means to help.  Yes, those closest and dearest to us are our main responsibility.  But if we take a narrow view on the parameters of love as we learn it from the Lord, we will miss blessings for ourselves and rob others of the blessings of being helped and loved.  Galatians 6:1 states that “you who are spiritual should restore anyone caught in transgression in a spirit of gentleness.”  Burden-bearing for others requires a gentle touch and a walk that is close to the Lord.  We go back to Galatians 5:22-23 to see the characteristics of such a walk, one who is capable of being a burden bearer.  “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  And Ephesians 5:25 tells us not to “become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”  To bear one another’s burdens is the supreme imitation of Jesus, for He was the exemplary burden-bearer.  Jesus taught, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). 

Paul admonished that it is even our obligation to bear the infirmities of the weak.  An illustration comes from the mission field that shows the strength the burden-bearer receives.  In Aftica where medical missionary Dr. Lambie worked, he had to cross many swift streams without bridges.  The natives taught him their way of not being swept downstream by the waters.  They told Dr. Lambie to get a heavy stone and carry it with him as he waded across the stream.  It would act as ballast, causing his feet to be more firmly planted on the bottom of the stream so that the water would not sweep him away.  The doctor tried this advice and it worked.  That action provided a good illustration for him to use in teaching the Christian truth of burden-bearing to those to whom he ministered.  While we cross the dangerous stream of life, we need the ballast of bearing others’ burdens—and even burdens of our own—to keep us solid and focused on the important things of life.  Who is not personally made stronger by bearing a burden for another?  Jesus taught that the law is to bear a soldier’s pack for a mile, but He told us to go two miles.  That of course indicates that we are to seek to help not just in the expected manner, but to go the second mile.  If a persons has no food to eat, we give him food to satisfy hunger.  But going the second mile would be to seek to show him how to earn his livelihood so he can purchase his own food.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”  (John 15:13).  We must remember that love is not just an emotion, a feeling; it is an act of the will.  And love seeks the best for others, even to being willing to lay down one’s life (denying self) in order to help a friend.  We heard, especially during World War II, of heroic deeds when one soldier performed an act of bravery that cost him his life but saved others in his unit.  We may not always be called upon to die for others, but to live for them and seek to lead them in right pathways sometimes requires “laying down one’s life” in great sacrifice of time, money and guidance.  Anne Sullivan laid down her life in this way to teach the severely handicapped child, Helen Keller.  Think of the rewards for both Helen and Anne.  We need to look about us every day and pray:  “Lord, to whom can I minister today?  Who has a burden I can help them bear?”  While you’re praying to be shown that person, pray for strength to meet whatever circumstances arise.

A Family Is Intended to Be Loving and Supporting

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.  Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”-Ephesians 5:22-26a, 28; 6:1-4 (ESV).

Yesterday we looked at Jesus’ commandment for us to love one another.  Continuing the theme of love, today we look at the family unit, one of the most precious and valuable units on earth for love to be nurtured and grow.  Paul could not have made his teaching clearer on the responsibilities of husbands, wives and children in a family.  He likens the intimate family unit to the love Christ has for the church and the church should have for the Lord Christ.  Such a close relationship should ideally exist between husband and wife that nothing could put it asunder.  However in our day when statistics show that about half the marriages end in divorce, we might ask if the family unit has lost its value.  Begun in the Garden of Eden by God Himself and intended for the husband and wife who love each other to be firmly and permanently bound together in love and commitment, sin has entered the sacred relationship of marriage as it did with Eve and Adam’s fall in the Garden.  Instead of an ideal atmosphere for a man and woman to grow and develop a strong relationship, in modern society we have forgotten the intentions and mandates of God.  When a marriage relationship deteriorates and breaks up, more than just the couple suffer the consequences.  It spells failure on the part of two people who began a relationship in love and anticipation. Dreams are dashed.  The future cannot be as they once hoped.  If children are present, they suffer from insecurity, lack of direction, and absence of a solid, loving family relationship.  Their future is often in jeopardy because they feel rejection and may even blame themselves for their parents’ separation.  The extended family is also affected, with ties severed and distrust engendered.  The community as a whole suffers, for weaknesses in families affect churches, schools and other phases of the social structure.  If there is trouble in the home, it is sure to touch all the members of that family and their associates.

The picture is a gloomy one indeed, when a family unit splits apart for lack of love and understanding.  But let us imagine a solid unit, one that follows the precepts set forth by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.  Even when dating, a couple can seek God’s guidance and His way for the time when they will be united as family.  Mutually making up their minds that love, respect and growth will be the goals is vital to having a lasting relationship.  And remembering what made each other happy when dating—or seeking to win the other’s favor—should be a continuing goal.  Who is your best friend?  Whose company do you enjoy most?  If you can answer your spouse, even after many years of marriage, you are indeed among the fortunate.  And when the couple is blessed with children they should take seriously the responsibilities of parenthood.  Permissiveness and lack of discipline has been a plague to families.  The couple should mutually agree—and with God’s help and the support of a strong church group—decide to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  We have God’s promise that when they are old they will not depart from their Christian training.  And when the time comes that children must care for aging parents, to honor and care for them will not be a burden if they have been taught all along that parents deserve respect and honor.  Thank God for your family.  Dedicate every member in it to Him.

Time in Perspective

“But I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God;’ my times are in Your hand.” –Psalm 31:14-15a (ESV). “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” – Ephesians 5:13-14 (ESV).

Twice per year under our Daylight Savings Time method of chronicling time, we must get used to “losing” an hour the second Sunday in March and “gaining” an hour the first Sunday in November each year. This twice-per year time change poses some problems for getting used to a new schedule for sleeping, waking and feeling adequately rested until we adjust again to the clock. We are just now in that “spring forward” period adjusting to setting our clocks ahead an hour. We “lost” an hour and its loss has left our bodies sleep-deprived and tired. We might be prone to complain of these adjustments to time, concerned about our inabilities to get used to the new schedule. We might even contend that those who make the rules about Daylight Savings Time have ignored God’s Word in Psalm 31:14: “My times are in Your hand.”

Two Greek words are used to denote time. Chronos registers chronological time, a “space of time”—whether short or long. Kairos denotes a season or an opportune time, or even a significant event in salvation history. The most significant of these which has already happened was in “the fullness of time” when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea. One yet to come, promised but unfulfilled, is the kairos—the time of the Second Coming of Christ for which we are to watch diligently and keep the faith until that significant event occurs: “to keep the commandment unstrained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will display at the proper time…” (I Timothy 6:14-15, ESV).

Paul had excellent advice for us on how to use our time. In Ephesians 5:13-14, he admonished Christians to “look carefully how you walk” and to ‘make the best use of time.” We who are familiar with the King James Version probably remember well that rendering of these familiar verses: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” In a devotional at an encampment for our youth at Epworth during the time my husband was pastor of First Baptist Church there, we were teaching on the very serious and probative subject of “Jesus Is Lord.” These verses came under the important point of “Jesus Is Lord of My Time.” Walk—your manner of life—circumspectly (with care and diligence, wisely)—redeeming the time (making every opportunity to use your time well). And the reason for “redeeming” the time? The days are evil. Even with all diligence to good use of our time, we will be tempted to pander and waste it for that which is not beneficial, holy and God-honoring. It may not be too late for us to “redeem the time,” and to remember with all diligence that “my times are in God's hands.”

Beware of Covetousness

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” -Exodus 20:17 (ESV). “And He said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” –Luke 12:15. (ESV) “But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” –I Corinthians 12:31 (ESV).

Covetousness arises out of a desire to possess more than we have; it is to long for, to reach after things. To covet was so much a part of human nature that God gave the last of the Ten Commandments to deal with the inordinate desire of wanting that which is not one’s own, whether it be to lust after one who is not legally linked in marriage, to desire possessions, or anything (an all-inclusive term for every thing not one’s own that persons might want). Scholars view the tenth commandment as reaching very deep into our nature because it deals with thought. Covetousness—wanting what is not rightly ours—is inward, heart-felt. Human laws cannot take cognizance of what goes on in the heart. It is true that oftentimes murder (the “thou shalt not kill” commandment) is ruled premeditated, beginning first in the heart. But covetousness is definitely “of the heart” and can motivate persons to commit murder or adultery or stealing.

The context of Jesus’ teaching about covetousness in Luke 12:15 followed after one from the crowd said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:14). How many of us have seen covetousness demonstrated following the reading of a will? So often, heirs think they do not get their rightful share, and ill-will, animosity and greediness result. Jesus followed His answer by giving the parable of the rich man whose land yielded plentifully. He built more granaries in which to store his crops and thought he could “eat, drink and be merry.” But God came to the greedy man, telling him that very night his soul would be required of hm. “And then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”” (Luke 12:20-21). Jesus was firmly teaching that one’s life does not consist of an abundance of possessions. There is a better way than always wanting more for selfish purposes. But earnestly desire the best gifts,” Paul urges, “abd I will show you a more excellent way.” (I Corinthians 12:31). Then he goes immediately into that fine discourse on love recorded in I Corinthians 13. Love is the more excellent way. When genuine love for the Lord is in our heart, there is no room for the dark secrets of covetousness and inordinate desire for that which we should not have. In Luke 12:15, Jesus said that the covetous person will not “be rich toward God.” In Ephesians 5:5 Paul says they who covet are like the idol worshipers, virtually denying faith in God and replacing the love for God on things. How serious an offense to our loving God to covet. It is indeed understandable that He would make one of the Commandments: “Thou shalt not covet."

Practice Sobriety—in Body and Mind

“Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” –Proverbs 20:1 (NKJV). “The glory of young men is their strength, And the glory of old men is their gray head.” -Proverbs 20:29 (NKJV). “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking with one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” –Ephesians 5:15-21 (NKJV)

“Sobriety is characterized by self-control, seriousness, and sound moral judgment…To be sober is to be in one’s right mind” (Holman Bible Dictionary, 2001, p. 1288). I looked up some statistics on alcoholism and found that in America today about 17.6 million people are addicted to the ravages of strong drink. A long time ago the writer of Proverbs recognized and wrote about the evil effects of alcohol: “Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” In that same chapter of Proverbs, a young man was commended for his strength, and the elderly held in honor for their “gray hair.” But the ravages of strong drink negate these qualities. The road to alcoholism begins with a first drink. Maybe it is on a dare, because friends are drinking. Perhaps the first taste of alcohol (or drugs) leads at first to a feeling of euphoria, and the user wants to repeat the sensation, which leads to habitual use. Little do they recognize the hold that alcohol (and, yes, addictive drugs as well) takes on the mind. A little research on alcohol use and health reveals multiple ills that occur because of repeated alcohol use. Among the first is the addiction itself—a feeling of need that is brought on by the lack of the stimulant. Physically, continued use can lead to diseases of the body such as arthritis, heart disease, hyper- and hypoglycemia, kidney and liver diseases, malnutrition and disorders of the nervous system. Psychologically, continued alcohol use leads to depression, insomnia and anxiety. Alarmingly, alcohol destroys brain cells. Who among us does not need all the brain cells we possess? Brain lesions, in turn, affect cognition, bring on hallucinations and delusions. And, if alcohol is used by women, especially before and during pregnancy, it causes fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a condition affecting the unborn which can be a life-long plague to an innocent child. Often, unfortunately, alcoholism is in a family’s history; the tendency toward it genetically transferred. In addition to the terrible addiction, it can bring suffering because of financial difficulties—money spent on a bad habit that could well be spent on support of family and needful charitable causes. Is it any wonder then that the writer of Proverbs stated “Wine is a mocker”?

Paul in his day recognized that wine could become a problem for Christians to whom he wrote. He encouraged them to refrain from strong drink “inwhich is dissipation.” The alternative is to be “filled with the Spirit.” Where the Spirit of the Lord dwells, there is no room for the “dissipation” and evils of alcohol and drugs. I do not want to come through as a “goody-two-shoes,” but for me, the decision to abstain from strong drink was made early in my life. I had opportunity to see what strong drink could do in that some persons in our larger family group (uncles) were addicted to alcohol. Observing the misery, shame and deprivation, as well as their own dissipation, were enough to steer me away from that first drink which I feared might start me down a dark road of no-return. The fact that I became a Christian early in life also was my stronghold and bulwark against wrong choices, as to drink. I wanted sincerely to do what was pleasing to the Lord. Sobriety in body and mind is possible. First, a right choice, to say “no” to strong drink and drugs, and mean it; and then to hold to a continuing desire to follow the path of the Lord, for it is right and good. Prayer: God grant that we be sober—in body and in mind.