The most recent too-heavy thing I attempted to carry was an old TV (the non-flat, anciently bulbous kind) that we inherited from my husband’s grandfather.
We just moved into a new house and the thing is, other than its girth, it’s a perfectly good TV, and also, I like to get things done quickly and also-also, I don’t like asking for help. I enjoy the feeling of self-sufficiency. I love doing things I shouldn’t be able to do and then going to sleep at night thinking, I did that thing. I carried that giant Y2K-era TV up the stairs all by myself despite the fact that I haven’t worked out in over ten years!
My dad jokes that the women in my family get things done by sheer force. Of course, that approach is significantly limited. Someday I’ll encounter a TV that’s too big for me. My strength, no matter how much I prefer self-sufficiency, doesn’t go very far. And when it comes to spiritual and emotional burdens, my limitations, and yours, are even more obvious. We can all think of times we’ve tried to carry the burden of our sin or suffering alone, and it just doesn’t work. We fall back down the stairs and our decades-old, TV-sized shame, pins us to the floor.
Here’s the problem—believing you can carry things that are too heavy for you, be it a television the size of a small train or a secret sin, is an illusion that will eventually destroy you. Crush you. Put you on your back or on your knees.
Something I find beautiful about today’s reading is how humble obedience, gentle love, and Christ-focused service are tied into our joy! The Bible makes a big deal about humble, holy living because we serve a holy God who humbled Himself and bent down to carry the things we could not. It’s amazing. We are broken human beings, not capable of carrying the weight of sin. But, incredibly, Jesus stooped to meet us and died to free us so that we could have His power.
Today’s passages urge us to love people from a place of humility. Of gentleness. Of openness. Of service.
“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” —Galatians 6:2
If you’re like me, you might be thinking, “I don’t want people to carry my burdens. That means I’m weak!” But, God tells us yes, we are absolutely weak. That’s why we need Him. That’s why we need each other. Put down the TV. You are not alone.
May we all remain steadfast in our faithfulness. For Gods promises are true.
All the underlines in these pages. Love this study! And sad it’s already halfway through.
Margaret W thank you for sharing your story here. It is really amazing what God can do. We too had a miracle with our conception, even with IVF our chances were not super great that they would find a good egg. My doctor thought he could maybe get six eggs, and one good egg, which would have about a 25% chance of being a viable embryo at the end. We got three beautiful healthy embryos at the end which blew him away. I told him I had been praying since starting injections and God gave us what can only be described as a miracle response as I had a condition that made my eggs not so good going into it. God is in fact bigger than lab tests or diagnoses, it was illuminating and awesome as a physician myself to see that.
As women we find difficulty in asking for help for ourselves, even praying for ourselves. We must learn to try and lay our burdens at His feet and take the help he sends. This is so hard. At 65 I wish I had learned this lesson much earlier.
My life is so blessed by each of you ladies commenting on the scriptures and devotionals. God bless you all! I am praying for your family to be comforted Traci. My deepest condolences on the loss of Tanner. He now rests with Jesus, without pain, or worry, in a beautifully restored heavenly body. Prayers for you, Churchmouse, in the difficulties you endure because of COVID. My church has a mask mandate and socially distanced areas of the church that we all respect. I get tired of wearing a mask but when I think of you, I know it is the right thing to do. My love to all you She’s. I pray over our entire group for those requesting prayer and those not yet ready to speak up.
I want to let you all know what a feeling of peace that I have had. I know that is completely from God. Tanner’s body was failing him so much in the last year, that I picture him happy now. I always was so fearful of losing him and thought I’d completely be broken. I can say that all have you have helped with my burden. Thank you
I also am very independent. Just this morning I was carrying a basket full of cleaning products down the stairs. It was quite heavy and I thought I was being foolish. Did that stop me?? No. I could have easily waited for my husband to carry it tonight. My husband has carried so much of my burden in planning a service for Tanner. So many have made it so much easier to get through this time. I’m so grateful and I let them. That is a miracle in itself. My nephews wife wanted to go back to Illinois for Tanner’s celebration of life service, but they have a new dog. She asked her dad to stay with him so she could go. He said no. They live an hour away. I was so surprised by that. Then I thought would I want to watch a dog. Probably not, but under the circumstance I really hope that I would have said yes. I will be looking for the ways I can help others and challenging the response that I give to them.
JANE K – Oh my goodness! I always read Psalm 91:4 back in my 30’s. I just mentioned it to someone recently and to see it here under your comment!
My thought was do I really confess my sins to another. Sometimes I do, but not always. I pray for that safe person I feel comfortable to be real with. I admit I have not been available to help others in time of burden, but I was so consumed with helping my son. I hope to improve on this.
I have been a follower of Christ now since 1997. For a few years between 2012 and 2017 I started alienating myself from my Christian friends and doing more secular things. Thinking that it was okay, I’ve been a Christian for a long time I won’t give into temptation. Well guess what, the saying about a frog in a pot of water slowly heating up, well that was me. But God got my attention in December of 2017 and my sisters in Christ were still ever so faithful in our relationships that God just used them to strengthen me and draw me back to Him. I can’t even begin to imagine doing life without my sweet sisters in Christ. You ladies on here really encourage me too, especially Churchmouse and Tina. Love to you all…….