WHICH IS BETTER, TO HAVE YOUR BURDENS BAREd OR BEARed?

We currently have an overseas student from a non-English speaking country staying with us for a few months. There are now constant reminders about just how weird English is – particularly all those words in English which sound the same but have completely different meanings. It might take you a minute to find that minute speck of dust on your camera lens which could lead you to discover that it was actually a dust mite and not a piece of lead. Did you detect how many homophones I just used in that sentence? Might and mite should be easy to detect because this was the only pair which were not spelled the same. I do sometimes wonder whether most English speakers know when to use lead and when to use led when they actually used lead? The reason I think that this is important is because God has ordained the written language (including agreed spelling and grammar) to preserve and deliver the eternity-changing message of the Gospel to those who need it most.  

This morning I read someone’s post on Facebook which called for people to “Bare one anothers burdens”. I struggled to overlook the missing apostrophe – but I struggled even more with the fact that they had conveyed a message exactly the opposite of what I’m sure they intended! 

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

To ‘bare’ another’s burden is to expose it – which may actually make it worse! To bare another’s burden may result in humiliation, embarrassment or even shame. ‘Bare’ is one of those curious English words which has several meanings depending on how it is used –

• the cupboard was bare (there was nothing in the cupboard)
• he showed his bare bottom (there was nothing on his bottom)
• he laid bare his heart to her (he exposed how he really felt) 

Whereas its homophone, ‘bear’, can have rather grizzly connotations, or even determine which way you should turn – but when the apostle Paul used it in Galatians 6:2 (βαστάζετε from bastadzo) he meant it to mean lift, carry a load, take up. This would involve helping someone to avoid being humiliated, or embarrassed or even ashamed. 

WHO SHOULD DO THIS BEARING OF BURDENS? 

¶ 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.
Galatians 6:1

Perhaps more important than homophones, is the actual point of what Paul wrote to the Galatians about burdens and whoshould carry them. He is addressing two groups of people – the spiritual and the transgressing. If we were in a Bible Study group at this point, I would ask, “And which of these two groups does Paul say were burdened?” If you answered “The transgressing” you would be right. Believers who yield to temptation can easily become snared into a lifestyle of sin which can leave them burdened by their wretched double life. Those who are spiritual can reach out in loving kindness to those who are burdened by their transgressions and help them. This can begin by simply showing care, which conveys an important message of non-judgemental acceptance. Listening, praying, encouraging are important ways to alleviate a burden caused by transgression. But if you were to continue reading what Paul wrote about burden bearing you might respond to my question – “The spiritual”, and you too would be right.

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 neighbour. For each will have to bear his own load.
Galatians 6:3-5

The kind of burdens that Paul is instructing the spiritual to bear on behalf of the transgressing, do not appear to be general life burdens, but rather, those burdens which have resulted from being in the grip of sin. The kind of burdens that he instructs the spiritual to always bear are their own life burdens (Gal. 6:5). Supporting and caring for our families can be a burden. But it is a burden we must each carry and take responsibility for. Maintaining our possessions and property can be a burden. But it is a burden we must each carry and take responsibility for. Being punctual can be a burden. But it is a burden we must each carry and take responsibility for. Getting our work done well and efficiently can be a burden (especially with a difficult boss). But it is a burden we must each carry and take responsibility for. 

While some of us don’t care about apostrophes or the appropriate homophone, there are some select people, such as myself, who do. It is to such people to whom it appears the burden of correcting everyone else’s poor grammar is a burden we must carry and bear responsibility for. But I’m not sure though that this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind. Perhaps we’ll never no!   

  

Pastor Andrew.

The Secret To Handling Overwhelming Burdens, Part 2

OVERWHELMING BURDEN BEARING
Part 2

Pilots are trained to be able to fly at night in thick cloud over mountainous terrains. If they ignore their training and become overwhelmed they run the risk of losing their bearings and their life. But if they can remain composed and rely on their training, they will trust their cock-pit instruments and be able to navigate their plane through these treacherous conditions. Despite their lack of visibility, their instruments will tell them their altitude, their location, their attitude, their speed, and other vital information. This is great metaphor for managing what would ordinarily be an overwhelming situation in life where God's Word acts as our flight instruments.

Flying in such conditions often leads to a pilot having to fly counter-intuitively. If you've ever watched an episode of Air Flight Investigation, you will seen instances of where a pilot thought their instruments were broken because their senses were deceiving them. When we are prone to being overwhelmed, our senses often tell us to flee. But if we would trust our instruments, as revealed in Scripture, we might avoid making matters worse and thereby lessen our annoying pattern of always being overwhelmed whenever this trigger appears.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Second Timothy 1:6-7

“Take My yoke upon you!” summoned the Christ. Perhaps in the First Century A.D. this sounded appealing. But in the 21st Century A.D. the last thing many of us want is not another weight on our shoulders! We are each at times weighed down by the complexities of our modern fast-paced, highly demanding, relationship straining, lonely, debt-festering, burdens. We get tired. We feel unwell. We fail to meet our own expectations let alone those of others. These multiple burdens can genuinely feel overwhelming. But there is a secret way to navigate these overwhelming demands and it’s easier to do than you might think.

Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:29-30

When I feel overwhelmed and I sleep too little, exercise too minimally, fret too much, I employ the secret. Rather than adding to my intolerable burdens, Christ’s yoke is not in addition to what is weighing upon my mind and draining my strength. No, it is instead of. For when I heed Christ’s summons to be yoked to Him, He takes the weight of my burdens from off my shoulders, puts them on His own, and replaces them with yoke designed to be worn by two beasts of burden. It’s not a fair deal though. God’s grace is never fair. Typical of how the ancient Orientals introduced a novice oxen to the task of jointly pulling a plow, when I am yoked to Christ I am yoked to the One who does the bulk of the heavy lifting. Christ unfairly takes my share of the yoke’s burden upon His own shoulders. It reminds me of the story of the toddler who wanted shoot baskets with his uncle the basketballer. There was no way the visiting nephew could even get the ball the nine feet in the air required to shoot a basket. To avoid the disappointment, his uncle lifted him and the ball up above his shoulders where all the wee one had to do was drop the ball into the hoop. He went up and the ball went down through the hoop. “I did it!” he exclaimed, “I did it – all by myself! I did it!” And his uncle just smiled and celebrated with him. Christ has been like an uncle to me many times and I have been like a self-absorbed wee one to Him too many times. But He still bears my burdens.

O Lord my God, when I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hand hath made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy pow’are throughout the universe displayed
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin
When Christ shall come, with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, “My God, how great You are!”

How Great Thou Art,  Stuart K. Hine, 1949

No matter how overwhelmed you may feel at the moment, He will gladly bear your burdens. He invites us to depend upon Him as the Source of all our needs, and to continue to cast all our burdens onto Him.

¶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
First Peter 5:6-7

Pastor Andrew