I used to think the word burden was the heaviest word in the world. Its weighty connotation, stirred up images of impossibly loaded weights that would shatter me upon contact. In my mind, the term was so negative that I made it a mission to avoid any collection of burden and to avoid being a burden to others. That was four years ago. Praise the Lord that He has changed my view concerning the word “burden”.
Today, the Lord has brought me into a place where burdens lead to blessings. He has brought me into a place where being a burden saves me, and carrying a burden nourishes me. The special place where God changed my view regarding burden isn’t a secret place. He simply brought me into His Body—the church.
Two key points that have helped me in my Christian life are the following:
- Be a burden to the Body
- Be burdened for the Body
Be a burden to the Body of Christ
As Christians, we need to be a burden to the Body of Christ. This doesn’t mean that you become a chore or an annoyance to your fellow believers, but that you weigh on some of their hearts. How does this happen and why do it? Fellowship and prayer. Fellowship is the way and prayer is the result.
Fellowship is simply to open up your situation to one or a few believers you are connected with. Once you open up to such ones, they become aware of your situation and you make your way into their heart. Then, the ones you open up to will pray for you. This will lead to salvation from your situation as it did for Peter in Acts.
In Act 12, Peter is arrested by Herod (verse 3), put in prison (verse 4), and immediately prayed for (verse 5). When the church heard about Peter’s situation, their response was to pray fervently concerning him. As a result of the prayer, the Lord rescued Peter out of Herod’s hand (verse 11). Like Peter, we can be saved from our situations through the prayers of our fellow believers.
Be burdened for the Body of Christ
Furthermore, as Christians, we need to be burdened for the Body of Christ. In John 21:15-17 Jesus charges Peter to feed His lambs, shepherd His sheep, and feed His sheep. Just as Jesus charged Peter to do these things then, He is charging us to do the same today. We need to be those who take care of the other members of the Body by nourishing them with Christ. In my experience, nourishing others actually nourishes me as well. In order for me to nourish other members with Christ, I need to first gather Christ as my living bread (John 6:51) and my water of life (John 4:14). Thus, nourishing others isn’t one directional. In feeding and caring for our fellow believers, we experience mutual care and nourishment.
Ultimately, as we write ourselves on the hearts of our fellow believers and also become burdened for them, we start to experience the indispensability of the Body of Christ. We start to see that the Christian life isn’t an individual life but a body life, and that we need the other members to go on in the Lord. As we continue in our Christian life, we can’t help but thank the Lord for burdens when we start to realize that genuine burdens actually come from the head of the Body-Christ. So, praise God for the matter of burdens in the Body of Christ! It is in this place that prayer saves, care is mutual, and burdens become blessings.
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed. –1 Corinthians 12:18
- L.O.V.E. and Moving On - June 8, 2016
- Burdened and Burdening - April 1, 2016
- And Peter—A Lesson in God’s Heart For Us - February 26, 2016
Amen dear Lord, we love You and Your glorious ways. Thank You for this mutual care and responsibility. Increase our mutual caring and loving capacity as well as our dependence on You through the Body.
I am so thankful that our life in the church is one of dependence on God and the other believers. What a testimony to the world that we are members of the Body of Christ! My going on in the Lord is for you and your going on in the Lord is for me.