Bearing Burdens and Carrying Loads

St. Paul's instructions about the temptations of a restoration leadership are explicit. His principles for ministry are both psychologically insightful and brilliant. They are as contemporary as the teaching on boundaries and as current as the books on lay ministry. In one paragraph St. Paul establishes some of the most important ministerial processes known to the church.

Bear one anther's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ's love.  If

anyone thinks he is too good to help another person, he is fooling himself. Let each of us examine our own works and then our reason to feel good about ourselves will be our accomplishments and not the efforts of others. Every person must carry his own load. Gal. 6:2-

 First, we are to help people whose burdens are too heavy for them to carry. Burden, baros in Greek, is a problem so large that one cannot carry it alone. This requires that we have empathy for their situation and sympathy to take appropriate action. It is agape love in action. When a person is overwhelmed with a burden too great to bear we can put our shoulder to the wheel and assist them. Two shoulders make for lighter burdens. The Good Samaritan saw a man with a burden and helped him lift it.

 Second, we are not be apathetic and think we are too good to be servants. Arrogance indicates that we are deceiving ourselves by failing to apply love to our relationships. The essence of agape love is servant-hood. 

Third, we need to make sure each person carries his own load. Only then can he/she have self-respect. Every person, including a rebel, needs to examine his works and find accomplishments. Responsibility develops self-esteem. Dependency destroys self-respect. 

A burden is a weight too heavy to carry alone but a load is a personal responsibility that we can, and must carry if we are to care for ourselves. This distinction is important for it can make the difference between success and failure, energetic ministry and burn out and communicating respect or disrespect to Seekers. 

Published by permission of the author of Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty.

One of the indisputable lessons of life is that we cannot get or keep anything for ourselves alone unless we also get it for others.   J. Richard Sneed