Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
Compassionate Jesus, the call to shoulder-up-under the burdens of friends and family drives me to you today. Otherwise, I would simply turn and walk away, just like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37). Only you know why there’s such an avalanche of broken stories converging on my doorstep at this time. Where else can I go but to you?
It’s only because you bore the burden of the law’s demands and judgment for me… It’s only because you say to me, “Cast all your care upon me, for I care for you” (1 Pet. 5:7)… It’s only because you call to me, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28)… that I will risk bearing the heavy burdens of others.
Jesus, here’s what I ask and need from you today. Help me not to be afraid of the emotional messiness that certain burdens bring. Help me know how to rely on your presence more than I rely on my words. I want to be aware of my limits, for sure… but I want to be even more aware of your limitless mercy, grace, power and peace.
For the woman who just got confirmation that the mass in her breast is malignant… for the dad who just lost, yet another job, in this fragile economy… for the couple whose two-year wait to welcome their adoptive child just ended childlessly… for missionary friends serving in Haiti a year after the earthquake who have to deal with a bottomless world of need with limited resources… for the parents who’ve spent all and who are spent from trying to rescue their daughter from the ravages of an eating disorder…
For the friend who preaches a powerful gospel, which bears fruit in everybody’s children but his own… for the friends who are having to pay a great price for a misdiagnosed medical condition… for the couples who are sleeping all alone in the same bed… for the church family that is splintered by graceless pettiness… for those who are telling me, “This is too much, I cannot and will not go on”…
Jesus, I bring all of these friends to your throne of grace, and I will seek to fulfill “the law of Christ”—the law of love… the way of the gospel, as you give me strength, wisdom and grace. So very Amen, I pray, in your persistent and sufficient name.
