Bear One Another’s Burdens

Do you bear with someone else or do you stand in judgement of that person?  I heard this said too often, “if that person was a Christian, they couldn’t do such and such a thing because a Christian wouldn’t do that.”  Why are we so ready to judge another believer?  What we need to remember is that we aren’t perfect and neither is anyone else, some people are still ‘babes’ in Christ and some are ‘carnal,’ or you might say worldly.  And besides that, who are we to judge someone else’s servant, the Lord is the only one that knows the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Our problem is that too often we want to be fruit pickers instead of loving people and bearing their burdens, we want to condemn them.  

Ravi Zacharias told a story that was true about him and his wife and I will try to retell it the best I can from only hearing it once, so here it goes, and I want to make this perfectly clear that Ravi and his wife were perfectly innocent in this matter.  I don’t recall where they were flying from but I think they ended up in New York.  When they left the airport his wife discovered that she had lost her purse, so Ravi said do you have your Blackberry and she said no, so he said let’s call the number and if someone answers then they have found it, so he did.  A lady answered and Ravi said did you find it and she said yes and she told him where he could pick it up, which was a bar, so he asked her what she was wearing and she said a black sweater.  So he went out all dressed up and got a cab and told the driver where he wanted to go, in which the driver said you don’t want to go there.  This cab driver was from India and so was Ravi and could speak the language so Ravi explained the whole story to him.  When they arrived, there were scantly clothed women outside, then he went inside and the man inside said which one would you like and there are more downstairs to choose from and Ravi said I know the one that I am looking for.  The lady walked up to him and said are you Ravi and he said yes, do you have it and she gave him the purse.  Ravi wanted to give her a finder’s fee in appreciation but she refused, so he thanked her and then he shook her hand with a hundred dollar bill in his hand and then she took it and he left.  Then he found out why she didn’t want to take the money, the hundred dollar bill that was in his wife’s purse was missing.  When he tells the story, it is a whole lot funnier than I can tell it.

I told you this story to say this, what would you have said and thought if you saw him go into the bar, knowing who he was and not knowing the circumstances?  This was a perfectly innocent situation that could have been blown out of proportion because of a false judgement.  Please don’t think I am talking down to anyone I have done far too much judging over the years myself and I have had to repent many times, so I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else but we all need reminders at times.

Read what Paul says about this in Galatians 6:1-10, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

It is easier to criticize and condemn than it is to encourage and build up a person and to bear their burdens with them.  So let us love one another and bless and encourage one another and especially those that are in the faith and help them carry their burdens!!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!! And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!