Galatians 6:2
“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
“Burdens”
Did you ever feel like you were carrying the weight of the world. The devil is in the business of oppression. He delights in weighting us down with worries, fears, tragedy, unexpected problems and many other things. When we meet people in these over-loaded situations we impulsively tell them that Jesus is their burden-bearer and we leave it at that. We speak the truth when we tell them that, but we must remember that Jesus uses spiritual brothers and sisters to be a part of His burden bearing. In many things we are our “brother’s keeper.” The Believers relationships are compared to the members of our body. 1 Corinthians 12:21 tells us "the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you." We are not independent believers but rather interdependent believers. We all need one another many times.
“BEAR”
When we bear something we are always on the bottom side. No one wants to be on the bottom side. We often say “I am on the bottom side of my own burdens so often and when I get on the topside , I don’t want to give that up and go to the bottom side of someone else’s burden.” But remember Jesus was on the top side in heaven and He volunteered to go to the underside of our burden of sin so we could get to the top side.
“Bearing,” never suggest something easy. It means sacrifices, inconveniences, and the consumption of time. It is not a pleasure ride in the natural. There will be things we have to endure and even despise. But the end result will be joy as Psalm 126:6 teaches us that “he that goes forth weeping…shall doubtless come again rejoicing.”
“ONE ANOTHER’S”
The spirit of “one-anotherness” is the spirit of the Book of Acts. One-anotherness may not be a proper use of the word “another” but it conveys the point I want to make. The Apostle Paul taught us in 2 Corinthians 12:15 that we must be willing to “…spend ourselves and be spent…” for others. One-anotherness means that we make an investment of our time and even our money into other people. But he also said he turned the checkbook of his time over to the other person and allowed them to take the initiative to use his time. One-anotherness means the other person has a claim on your resources. This is the oneness that Jesus prayed for us in John 17:21 that all believers should be bonded into. 1 Corinthians 12:26 teaches us when “…one member suffers, all the members suffer…”
It is important to look at the context in which this verse is used. Galatians 6:1 says "...if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” When we bear the burden of such a person we must never justify their fault, but we must commit to their recovery by helping them to correct their problem. We must not add additional burdens to them by perpetually condemning them after they have repented and assumed responsibility for their sin. One-anotherness, burden-bearing involves restoring those among us who have fallen, even though we must administer necessary chastisement and temporary restrictions because they have betrayed the trust of their fellow believers We must not over-extend their punishment, but work toward full restoration.
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” It is clear from these verses that the commandments to love are the greatest commandments because obedience to all other commandments must be driven by love for God and our neighbors. These commandments were not new to the New Testament of Jesus Christ. They originated under the Old Testament. But when Jesus came He increased and expanded the strength of love. Jesus said in John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, that ye also love one another.” You will notice the difference in these verses is that we “love our NEIGHBOR as ourselves” and now Jesus says the new commandment is that we love our BROTHER better than ourselves. Jesus said in John 15:12-13 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In this verse, Jesus clarifies the meaning of His new commandment to love one another as HE LOVES US by saying that His love means that He gives His life for them.
“The law of Christ” is to love our brothers and sisters BETTER than ourselves. We are told in Philippians 2:3 “…in lowliness of mind let each esteem other BETTER than themselves.” So in order for us to bear our brother's burden we must be driven by the “law of Christ” which means that we love the brother who needs to be restored more than we love ourselves and not just love them as ourselves.
THE QUESTION we need to ask ourselves is...
Do we have compassionate feelings for those who have fallen victim to sin? How great of a sacrifice are we willing to make to restore them?