Our Burdens and Loads

Day 264: Galatians 6:1-18

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” - Galatians 6:2 ESV

“For each will have to bear his own load.” - Galatians 6:5 ESV

These two verses have been pointed to as an apparent contradiction by many skeptics, but we know better than for Paul (by way of the Holy Spirit) to make such a mistake just three verses apart.

The question he is working to answer in regards to someone being caught in a sin is this: "Should we allow others to help us along the way, or should we go solo and hope for the best?"

The word for burdens in Greek is baros and describes the excess burden or burdens that are so heavy they weigh us down. These burdens are like boulders. The word for load is pholtion and describes the heavy cargo of a ship or the burden of daily toil. These loads are like knapsacks. (For more on this, check out the “What Do Boundaries Look Like?" section of the book Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend)

Every day we should look for opportunities to help someone along the way with their boulders (see verse 10), but we should note that we all have a personal responsibility as well to carry our own knapsacks. We will not be able to carry someone else into heaven, especially if they've chosen a lifestyle of sin over walking by the Spirit (see yesterday's post).

Each of us has our own daily heavy cargo, and we cannot look to others to do the work for us (i.e. you have to take your own Organic Chemistry test). In this instance, we have to look to Jesus, the only one who can make us safe (justification) and sound (sanctification).

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”  - Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV