Multitude Monday: Our Purpose

Galatians 6:2

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

I think it no accident that I receive the greatest rush of purpose in my life, when I am bearing another's burdens.

These burdens, they bring tears and despair and my heart breaks as I bear them. But along with that grief comes Life Abundant. When Perfect Purpose is lived out, Perfect Peace settles in.

Bearing burdens is the life that Christ modeled through his ministry and at the end, on the Cross itself. He bore it all.

This is the life He called us to...Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

The burdens take on many different forms, from chronic disease and pain, to grief and loss, to poverty and loneliness, to the consequences of sin. 

As the Redeemed, this makes up our daily work. We don't live for ourselves, but for others. We live to bear pain sacrificially as He did, and in doing so, our hearts grow to resemble His. Our hearts deliver mercy and grace; they bring healing to the suffering, deliverance to the oppressed.

My inward peace and joy are never greater than when I live out this Purpose. It used to be, before Christ redeemed and discipled me, that my purpose was to maximize my leisure time with my family. Leisure time is where life is lived, and the rest is all just work, right? 

Wrong. 

My soul and your soul ache to do two things. 1. Fellowship with God; 2. Bear one another's burdens.

Matthew 22:37-40 source here

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

As I've committed more and more to intercessory prayer and to being there for others, I've felt an inner peace rise to heights I've not known before. This is no accident. This is what God intended as the author of my soul. 

Side note: I'm not called to bear burdens in an unhealthy way, allowing myself to be taken advantage of as I allow someone else to remain in sin and bondage. Enabling sin is participating in the sin. Bearing a burden is not the same as enabling an addict (whatever their addiction may be), and we should always pray that God gives us discernment as we serve others.

Giving thanks today, on this Multitude Monday:

I have just one today and it stands alone beautifully! My friend Tesha is pregnant! My soul rejoices! He is faithful! There is joy in the morning, a time when mourning turns into dancing, a time to laugh and a time to cry. Let the dancing and laughing and rejoicing start now! Praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Congratulations, Tesha, my friend.