BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS

This must be one of the most wonderful expressions of Christian fellowship. The Spirit-led believer will never want to add to the burdens of others but is constantly thinking of how he can be of service, following the blessed example of the Lord Jesus who ‘did not come to be served, but to serve’, Mark 10. 45 NKJV Indeed, it is the privilege of every believer to be able to cast his or her burdens upon the Lord, 1 Pet. 5. 7. Burdens are extra heavy loads and to ‘bear’ means to ‘carry’ or ‘hold up’. The picture Paul paints is one of seeing a fellow traveller who has fallen under a crushing burden. The need is of haste to get under the load and help him. In the context, it would appear that the burden relates to sin or spiritual weakness and that this caused the believer to fall, v. 1. There may be times when a person might sin, repent, and be forgiven and restored into local assembly fellowship. But, sadly, nobody bothers to get under the load to help and the stricken saint continues carrying the same weight of temptation in the same difficult circumstances. No wonder the sin is easily repeated.

The lovely phrase ‘one another’ is used on a number of occasions in the New Testament. ‘Love one another’ is found at least 12 times, together with ‘pray one for another’, Jas. 5. 16, ‘edify one another’, 1 Thess. 5. 11, ‘preferring one another’, Rom. 12. 10, ‘use hospitality one to another’, 1 Pet. 4. 9, and ‘wash one another’s feet’, John 13. 14, to name a few.

You will notice at the end of verse 2 that being a burden bearer fulfils ‘the law of Christ’. What is the law of Christ? John chapter 13 verse 34 makes it very clear: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another’. The law of Christ is the law of love, Gal. 5. 13-15. Love picks up and love holds up. James calls it ‘the royal law’, Jas. 2. 8, and ‘the perfect law of liberty’, 1. 25.

To be a burden bearer should be our ministry to each other. Is there someone in your assembly today who needs nurturing, helping, or encouraging? May God give us the grace to be sensitive to the needs of others, to seek out those in need and, with Christ, to be mutual burden bearers.