562. When Others Stumble Part 2 Galatians 6_2

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry Sr. And today's podcast is a part two. It's a continuation of the passage from yesterday. I want to reread the whole passage from yesterday. We're reading Galatians 6:1-2. And I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

"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."

We pretty well covered verse one yesterday or in the previous episode. Today, though, I want to talk about this challenge to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

What does it mean to bear someone else's burdens? Does it mean to be aware of them? You'll notice in scripture, there are a number of places where we're told to do different things for one another. The apostle Paul is challenging us here to bear one another's burdens.

What might that mean? In our workplaces I think it requires us that we know that we get to know the people around us, not in a prying way, but in a transparent way. We need to know enough about the people around us through genuine interest.

This is not through prying. I'm not trying to find out things about my coworkers so that I might be able to use that against them or use that to judge them or to classify them. I want to know about my coworkers because I'm genuinely interested in them. I think we do our world a disservice, if all of our first-tier friends are people that live in some other part of town, and we see them on the weekends at church.

If we don't have friends in our workplaces, I believe we're not well equipped to bear their burdens. We need to have good friends in our workplaces. And the way that happens is by expressing a genuine interest in other people. This genuine interest is magnetic. In some regards, it's not always the case, but we tend to reciprocate.

I don't know if you've ever noticed. I often say this. We tend to like the people who like us, not always because there are sometimes when things just get a little strange. But genuinely, if you have a genuine interest in someone else, they will have a genuine interest in you or vice versa. And I don't even know which one comes first. But I believe as Christians, it's our job to have a genuine interest in others so that we can become aware of what's going on in their lives. In the United States, especially, but in the west, we have enough money to keep the world from knowing much about what's going on in our lives.

We can hire people to fix things and we can manage our own troubles. And our coworkers may not even know what's going on. But I'm challenging us as believers in Christ to be people who are in a position to bear another person's burdens. I also don't think this is a command only to Christians. In other words, I need to bear the burdens of people who are around me, if they're agnostic or atheist or if they belong to another religion. My goal is to be someone who's ready to bear the burdens of another person. And therefore, I will fulfill the law of Christ. I will be living in a way that Jesus did. Jesus didn't ask us if we wanted to be saved. He came and saved us. And I believe we need to be in a position to serve the people around us.

"Bear one another's burdens" is my version of serving people, knowing enough about them to find ways to be a blessing to them. Today, I want to challenge us as believers. Let's look around us. Are we as good a friend as we can be? Are we interested genuinely in the people around us? Are we in a position to be able to bear their burdens?

And if the answers to those questions are no, then let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us change. That's our job as marketplace ministers. Thank you for being a minister in the marketplace. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people around you. It all matters. If you'd like to hear more podcasts like this and join a community of people who are actively involved, trying to integrate their faith more into their daily lives, check us out at https://followerofone.org.

Thanks very much.