“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

My husband often beats me to the bed at night, and then I’ll find him sitting with his Bible. He will read out loud the verses that capture his attention, or he will ask his questions out loud.

Last week he was reading Galations, chapter 6. “He says we are supposed to carry each other’s burdens, but then we are to carry our own load. What burden? What is the difference?”

He was just dangling that worm in front of me, knowing I would bite. What do you think Paul was writing about??

We have to look at the whole section in context, because verses 2 and 5 are not independent, and the two words for burden/load are not the same.

Here is the Greek word for “burdens” in verse 2, with the translation and biblical usage.

“Carry each other’s burdens…” Paul used the same word in Corinthians 4:17 when he talked about being a minister of the new covenant in Christ… that they did not preach to others for their own benefit. He said, “For we who are alive (spiritually) are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” verses 11-12) Paul and the other missionaries suffered to be able to carry Christ’s life giving message to others. “Therefore we do not lost heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” An eternal weight of glory… The burden that they carried for the people of the church in Corinth, for their salvation and their maturity in Christ, was outweighed by the weight of eternal rewards they could look forward to. THIS IS THE BURDEN WE CARRY FOR OTHERS. THE BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY TO HOLD OUT THE TRUTH.

And here is the Greek word for “load” in verse 5, with its translation and usage.

This word for load or burden was used by Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for i am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The burden Jesus gives us to take on is the obligation we have to Him who took our burden of sin… it is to live as He has commanded us and to remain in relationship with Him. THIS IS THE INDIVIDUAL LOAD WE ALL ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR. We can’t ride into heaven on someone else’s coat tails. We have to tend to our own faith.

This is a big deal. We live in an age when people who live by a biblical moral compass are considered bigoted and prejudiced against those who do not share their beliefs. Christians cannot expect those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins to live by biblical standards, but God holds those who have professed faith in Jesus accountable to live according to His standard. These verses are telling us that to keep the law of Christ, which is to love God and others, we must gently correct one another when we see someone falling into the trap of sin. To ignore the sin pattern would be unloving.

BUT–Paul is also saying, don’t think that correcting someone else makes us superior. Other people are not a measure of how well we are doing. We can’t be looking around and comparing ourselves. God is the perfect measuring stick, and we have to look at what he expects in order to accurately assess how our lives look. How are our hearts doing? Because the fastest way to fall is to be deceived into thinking we do not have any vulnerabilities. We have to stay honest and humble and willing to accept correction ourselves.

I always tell my kids that we never stand still in our faith. If we aren’t growing in our relationship with Jesus, we will be backsliding. It takes constant investment, and it doesn’t always feel like we’re growing, but it all adds up. God is the one who takes our investment and changes us. It’s easy to become discouraged, especially if you are the one who is passionate about teaching and encouraging others, like Paul was. Perhaps that is when these reminders are most needed. Don’t give up. Not on others. Not on investing in your relationship with God. Not for a moment.

God loves you, and so do I. ❤️🙏

Stock photos by StockSnap and kar3nt on Pixabay.