CARE AND CARRYING EACH OTHER'S BURDENS
Eva Haglund, Sweden
The world is full of people and needs. Many suffer and so many need love. Love is the most positive power. Everybody needs love and greatest is love. Then it is no surprise that God IS love. Everybody needs Him.
Sometimes people want to be a friend when it does not cost them anything, but Jesus showed that to be a friend it costs something. In Gal.6:2 Paul wrote, "Bear one another`s burden." Sometimes in the world it counts if you are rich and are educated, but when Abraham's servant went to seek a bride he asked to see a sign of great love. The woman who fetched water showed much love. She gave water also for all the camels. It was very much giving water for the people who were thirsty after the travel, and much water for all the camels. It was not an easy job. She showed much love.
In the story about Abraham when he met the angels in Gen 18 we see the heart of hospitality he had and was used to meet people with. He was a giver. It is written in the Bible in Eph.6:2 to carry each other burdens in the Body of Christ. Many suffer today, including Christians. To call anybody, write a letter or visit anybody can mean much. To pray for anybody can be like a present for anybody who needs.
In Romans 9 we can see the heart Paul had - the deep love that he had for people. He said that he wished he himself was rejected by God if any Jews here could get saved. In Rom 9:1 "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh."
In friendship the greatest love Jesus says is to give a life for a friend. Then you can say it costs something. In 1 Cor 13 is written "love does not seek its own." Love can cost. For Jesus it cost much. The cost was the cross where He hung for everyone. It was the deepest love.
Jesus wants us to carry each other's burdens in the Body of Christ. Help each other when it is not so easy. This we can see in Eph.1 when Jesus showed us to wash each other's feet. He wanted to show each other care. He showed as a leader that to be a leader is to serve. He was like a servant in love when He washed the feet. Jesus as King in heaven humbled Himself and He wants us to serve - to show love to each other.
To carry another's burden may include helping to do the dishes for one who is tired. It also is to give comfort and listen to those who are sad. The Bible tell us to weep with those who weep. A heart of compassion is revealed when people suffer and you pray in tears for that one, in intercession.
In Ephesians it is written to pray for each other. In James it is written that faith without works is dead. We need to help each other. The hand needs the feet, as it is written in 1 Cor 12. We need each other as usual parts in a body need the other members. To carry each other burdens is to show care to the ill people.
There are old people who cannot visit a Christian meeting. I also believe in house meetings.
There ought to be people visiting old people and have a meeting with those who cannot come to a church building, or maybe just for a shorter visit. I am thinking that if they cannot come to the meeting - "let the meeting come to them." We need Jesus first, but then we also need each other.
I also believe if it is guided by God that it can be a blessing for Christians living close to each other to meet, as we can see in Ps 133:1, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Sometimes it is easier to carry each other's burdens when we visit them. I also think we can get back in having stronger relationships. Christians can have different needs. There can be a need of counseling, and there can be people who do not have food. To help a friend who does not have money for food is to carry one's burden.
People can have sorrow and God wants us to help each other. Jesus carried our burdens when He suffered persecution and hate for our sake. He was mocked, scourged and crucified in a pain much stronger than we understand. It was a love so deep like the sea. To carry each other burdens is to think about somebody else. It is not to be selfish. Jesus showed us to wash each other's feet - showing care to each other. Jesus as King and leader was humbled and served - like a servant in love.
An example of a king showing love occurred when David took care of the sheep. He learned to take care and to serve, even when it was not so nice. To wash another's feet is not always so nice. To help another move is not always so easy, but it is love. In Acts we read about Peter, who was in prison, but in Acts.12.5 constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. He was released. They showed great love to him in their prayers.
Prayer for people also means much. When we give, that is when we get. When we sow we also reap. God gives back. We do not give to get, but because we care. We ourselves want to be met in that way. We make mistakes, but it is important that we keep serving each other; not just in a church building but as Christians who need each other.
Many who do not know Jesus also have many burdens and need love. When there are persecutions of Christians, we need to come closer to each other. I think it is a new time when God wants to restore more of the first love in the Body for Christ, but also more of love in the Body of Christ with more friendship, team work and more care. In Acts.2:46 we see that Christians met in houses, ate together and had fellowship. We cannot know everybody well but we need each other also globally as in a big family.
In John 17:21 Jesus pray that love will be a testimony to the world - love that we get from God. Jesus say in John 15:9, "As the Father has loved Me, I also has loved you, abide in My love. If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love. just as I have kept My Father's commandment and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full." I think Jesus talks about not just saying hello to each other, have a cup of coffee in church, but to have also real fellowship. He says in John 16:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one`s life for his FRIENDS." I think Jesus wants to restore more of real friendship among us. We must not be bitter to anybody but forgive as Jesus did when He said "Father forgive them" at the cross.
If we have been forgotten by others we can think about others who also have felt forgotten. A person can have felt forgotten by others, and we can reach out and help. We can set aside for a while our own need to help another who has a big burden like us. In Job 41:10 we read "and the Lord restored Job`s losses when he prayed for his friends."
He who carried the biggest burden was Jesus at the cross. He did it out of love for us. We find an expression of His love in Isaiah 53:4 - "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Jesus/Yeshua carried the biggest burden for us.
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