Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Fruit of the Spirit

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Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Carry Each Other's Burdens

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Galatians 6:1-5 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

Every summer my family travels to Ponte Vedra Beach outside of Jacksonville, Florida, where we have vacationed for as long as I can remember. My children enjoy it as much as I did as a child, and are making their own memories on the same beach that I have always loved so dearly.

Although it is great fun to experience the beach with my children, I have found that "vacation" at the beach seems to be just a tiny bit more like work, now that we have three young girls in tow. There are bodies to lather with sunscreen, diapers to change, eyes full of sand to wipe clean, and not to mention, the feat of transporting everything on and off the beach. Beach chairs, buckets, shovels, umbrellas, and a two year old to carry does not make for an easy climb up and down the sand dunes.

One summer, we purchased a wagon to make our task of traveling back and forth over the dunes easier. We loaded it with all of our equipment and pulled it back and forth to the beach each day. Unfortunately, the wheels on the wagon were too narrow, and as we pulled all of the equipment back and forth, the wheels turned sideways or simply sank in the sand making it difficult to pull the wagon off the dunes at the end of the day. Once we moved over the hill it rolled with ease, but the trip up was not easy and we wondered if the wagon was worth it at all. Eventually, we abandoned the wagon and went back to carrying all of the equipment ourselves.

In Galatians 6, Paul tells us to carry each other's burdens, and in so doing, we will fulfill the law of Christ. In my limited understanding, that verse has always carried connotations of helping others through illness, death, tragedy, etc... As I painted and meditated on this verse, God began to show me a much different picture of this verse. Certainly, we are called to help each other through deaths, illnesses, and tragedy, and all the difficult circumstances of life, but one of the implications of this particular verse seems to be referring to the burden of our sin.

Part of carrying each other's burdens is helping each other find freedom from the sinful patterns of our flesh. I am so thankful to be part of an amazing Christian community who has often picked up their wagons and helped me carry my own burdens. It is truly a joy to carry each other's burdens, but like pulling a wagon through the sand, it is not always easy, especially when we cannot understand the temptations others are struggling with and the battles they are fighting.

When "restoring others", Galatians 6:1 says to watch yourself or you also may be tempted. Immediately following Paul's command to carry each other's burdens, he states "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." When faced with the sins of others, especially when their sin directly affects us, I think our greatest temptation is pride, and we can easily lose sight of the depth of our own sin.

When our brothers are struggling with temptations or sinful patterns that we do not understand or have not experienced, we are tempted to stand at the top of the sand dune and look down on our fellow man, adding a heaping burden to his or her wagon. Not only are we not fulfilling the law of Christ, but Paul tells us that we are deceiving ourselves in those moments. We are believing the lie that we are something when God says we are nothing without Him.

Paul also tells us in Romans 12:3, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." In those moments where we lose sight of the truth, we are called to "carry our own loads" by falling on our knees before our Father and repenting of our attempt to take his place as judge. Through repenting and believing the truth, God brings us from a place of looking down from the top of the sand dune to a place where he enables us to fulfill the law of Christ by picking up our wagon and carrying each other’s burdens to Jesus, the true bearer of our burdens.

In our own struggles with sin, the world often tells us that the sand is too deep and the wagon is too heavy. “Its not worth it”, the world says, “Its too hard for God. Abandon your wagon. You cannot get free. The dune is too steep. People do not change.” But the God who has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west says that it is for freedom that I have set you free, and I have made you a new creation. This was finished when my Son died on the cross and I am able to do far more than you can ask or imagine. There may be moments where your wagon gets stuck and the burden feels too heavy, but no sand is too deep, no wagon is too heavy, and no dune is too steep when you come to me in repentance and believe the words I have spoken to you.

When our “brother” is “caught in a sin,” I pray that we would restore him gently and be there to remind him of the words that Christ spoke to us. I pray that instead of abandoning our wagons because we fancy the sand too deep, we would abandon our position at the top of the sand dune, walk along beside those God puts in our path, pick up our wagons, and pull with all the strength God has given us, to help them carry their burdens to Jesus, the only One who can truly carry them away.

Even as I am writing this, I am incredibly convicted of my own weakness in this area, but pray that God would continue to speak truth to my own heart. Let us fulfill His law by thinking of ourselves with sober judgment and carrying each other’s burdens.