Bearing One Another's Burdens
Dear Calvary Family,
Over 40,000 people lost their lives earlier this month due to the earthquake in the Turkey/Syria region. To give that number some perspective, this would be like the entire Orange County City of Brea dying in one day. Unbelievably sad.
As followers of Jesus, what should be our response be to tragedies like this?
It is honestly tempting to switch the TV news channel or scroll quickly through the online posts when we come across tragic news. Sometimes it feels like the best way to deal with tragedy is simply to ignore or avoid them.
The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us a different vision for what we should do when we come across tragic events in people’s lives. In Galatians, Chapter 6, verse 2, Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Burden bearing is certainly not an easy calling. It is difficult to enter into pain and tragedy. It is costly to take on another person’s burden. The encouragement Paul gave the church in Galatia and gives to us today, is that when we do answer to the call to bear one another’s burdens, we live out the “law of Christ.”
What is the “law of Christ” Paul is referring to in Galatians 6?
The law of Christ comes from another New Testament book, from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 – NASB).
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor. In Galatians 2, Paul teaches that bearing another’s burden is a way to love God and love our neighbor.
It has been inspiring over the last week and a half to see Christians in the Middle East living out this calling. Christ followers have rushed into the regions most devastate by the earthquake to provide food, supplies and shelter.
Earlier this week, we had the joy and privilege to send financial aid ($6,000 USD) from our Church Reach/Missions fund to three of our Calvary *missionary partners working in Turkey. This aid will go directly to helping “bear the burdens” of people most impacted by the earthquake. It is because of our church family’s generosity that we are able to send gifts like this. If you want to continue to give financially through our Reach/Missions fund to help people affected by the Middle East earthquake, feel free to do so, just mark your donation with the term “Turkey Earthquake Relief” to make sure it is designated to the right place.
One more thought on the calling to be a burden bearer. Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of this. Thru the incarnation, Jesus entered into our world, our pain, our tragedies. On the cross, Jesus took on the burden of sin. Jesus generously bore our burdens, so that we could we could be rescued. Rescued from sin, rescued from death, rescued from eternal separation from God.
As Charles Gabriel wrote in the 19th century hymn, “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner condemned, unclean.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
As a follower of Jesus, may you follow His marvelous and wonderful example and bear the burdens of others, both next door and around the world.
Matt Doan
Reach Pastor
*For security purposes we do not name our Middle East partners by name via email/online, but feel free to ask us in-person.