Beautiful Words Blog | Balancing Our Burdens, Pt 1 By Pastor John Moropoulos | Gateway Christian Fellowship

July 13, 2024

Text: Galatians 6:2, 5

V2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

V5 For each one will bear his own load.

It is an amazing contradiction of modern society that we have done so much to relieve

ourselves of the burdens of everyday life, yet we remain almost unbearably burdened in it.

Automatic doors, escalators and elevators, automobiles, trains, and heavy equipment all relieve us of burdens one way or another. I don’t think we could survive without power tools. All of these and multitudes and more are designed to relieve us of the burden of labor.

There’s the other irony, of course. We are careful to take advantage of all the labor-saving devices we possibly can, only to hurry off to the gym where we pay somebody to let us do what we just paid somebody else to keep us from having to do. Life is weird.

Despite our best efforts, we are still weighed down. The weight we carry isn’t the

traditional physical load such a laborer would bear, but the psychological and emotional load of an unhealthy life. There are more professional therapists and counselors than ever and they are booked solid, many turning people away because they simply can’t take any more cases. This is not to suggest that the services of these professionals aren’t needed. They most definitely are. People are working more, sleeping less, at odds with family and spouses, and, in short, not at all happy.

It would appear that we have switched one kind of burden for another. The physical

labor we have successfully avoided has been replaced by the burdens of emotional

isolation, fear of financial failure, health concerns, and a host of other issues.

In his letter to the Galatian church, the apostle Paul laid out two important principles. In

chapter six he wrote that we should “bear one another’s burdens” and that “each one

should bear his own burden.” There is some real practical truth there.

The bearing “one another’s burden” has the word varos. It’s a word that actually means

“depth.” It’s where we get the word bathysphere. Okay, you haven’t used that word

lately, but it was an old-fashioned device for exploring the depths of the oceans, a big

round chamber that a person could get into and safely descend. The burdens that we

are called on to help our neighbor with are those that would sink us, overwhelm us, and

take us down. These are the unexpected tragedies, the things we could never see

coming. We need help with those. We have an obligation to help one another in those

hard times.

The “bearing one’s own burden” is from a different word. It is fortion. It is the burden

that we should reasonably expect to carry, the everyday stuff, things we should plan on. The word comes into modern Greek as a truck, like a delivery truck. Such a vehicle is

designed to carry a load.

There is an element of respect present in these two ideas. The instruction to “carry one

another’s burdens” tells us to recognize that our brothers and sisters are doing their

part, but there is a situation that one could not reasonably expect them to deal with. It

means that life has given them a burden that they simply shouldn’t be expected to carry alone. It means someone must step beside them and take part of the load. Not the whole load, as that wouldn’t be respect, but to help them with the load.

Carrying one’s own is also a matter of respect. I must respect others enough to know

that they have their stuff to carry and I must allow them to do that. I must respect myself enough -- and here is the real challenge to contemporary society -- that I don’t willingly overburden myself with a load I was never intended to carry. Unnecessary debt, social commitments, and responsibilities at work that, while they may lead to more money, will also prevent me from meeting family or other relational commitments that are necessary to a whole and healthy life.

So let’s take stock. Let’s start with the second one, my appropriate burdens. Do I need

to set something aside so that I am not willingly overburdening myself, causing me to

shortchange people important to me or even my mental health. These may be hard

choices but they are necessary.

Then there is the matter of helping others. Responding to others in need is a part of the

Christian’s walk-- something we are commanded to. But let’s ensure that we do so in a way that doesn’t overburden us to the point that somebody else gets cheated. Let’s

also be careful to respond in a way that offers respect to the one we help, allowing them to continue carrying their “normal” share.

These are not always easy calls to make, with the lines often unclear. But we can try, and in trying, move toward success.