Sarah and I went on a walk one bright day. My sunscreen ended up in my eyes. The combination of contact lenses, sunscreen, and sunshine did not go well! My eyes watered so badly that I could not keep my eyes open. I didn’t know the area and my eyes were shut tight because of the pain. How would I get back? Sarah led me to her home, my hand on her shoulder. She placed her sunglasses over my eyes.
Sometimes we don’t realize how much we need each other.
This week I was listening to a radio program. David Jeremiah, spoke of what we often refer to as the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He reminded us that this verse must be kept in context or we will not love well. He commented that a business book recommends the “Platinum Rule,” “Do unto others as they would like to have done unto them.” Jeremiah explained that is the Golden Rule put into the context that it was written in. Here is Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV).
“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”
On our walk, Sarah could have seen my eye problems and scolded me, “How did you get sunscreen in your eyes? You should have worn sunglasses! Weren’t you thinking?” She could have left me stranded. Yet, she didn’t. She loved me, right in that teary, dark place and led me back. That hadn’t been the plan, but she knew what I needed.
If I love God with every part of my being, then His love will be the way I love others.
Yesterday I read Galatians 6:2. It tells us how to fulfill the law of Christ. “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2 ESV) It sounds lovely and is challenging. Let’s pull in the context of this verse as well.
“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.” (Galatians 5:1-5)
Maybe we want to complain about one another rather than love them. It would be easier to criticize one another's burdens rather than bear them. But that is not the law of Christ. Often we are willing to share the physical issues we are dealing with; they are difficult to hide anyway. I wonder if we need to be more willing to love others by taking their spiritual needs before the Lord as well. What if, as we follow Christ, we meet others where they are and guide them in Christ? We have been in the dark before, too. I’m so glad God places us in relationship with others and, through Christ, in right relationship with Him.
Questions to Ponder
When has someone carried your burdens?
How are you expressing love for God and love for others?
How are you bearing the burdens of another?
A Prayer
Lord Jesus,
Thank you for the gift of being in relationship with others. Most of all, thank You for salvation. Thank you placing me in right relationship with God through your life, death, burial, and resurrection! Please help me to bear the burdens of others and so fulfill Your law. I need you. Thank You for reminding me to love God and love others. I cannot do this without you. Thank you for being enough. In Your Holy Name, Amen.
The Greatest Commandment
Here’s the May 27th radio broadcast I mentioned: https://www.davidjeremiah.co.uk/radio/player?id=1403
