The Burden of Duty
- Strength For Life
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
From the beginning, God create humans to be in fellowship with other men (Gen. 2:18). Part of being a Christian husband or wife, a Christian son or daughter, a Christian American citizen, a Christian resident in your neighborhood, a Christian friend, and a member of the body of Christ is to be involved in other people’s lives, and for them to be involved in yours. If you are even a moderately healthy believer, you recognize two things: your personal need for sweet fellowship with the saints, and the spiritual needs of believers around you that you want to help meet. The New Testament epistles describe a variety of fellowship and discipleship relationships between believers. Galatians 6:1, for example, describes a scenario where a brother has been "overtaken in a fault" and needs other members of the Body to step up and help restore him.
However, here is a prerequisite for finding fulfilling fellowship with others. Just desiring to help, or merely desiring Christian brotherhood, is not enough. “Every man,” God says in Galatians 6, must first “prove his own work” (v. 4) and “bear his own burden” (v. 5). This “burden” is a different word from the heavy, oppressive “burden” of stumbling and sinning n verse 2. No, the burden of verse 5 refers to the working man’s burden: the tools he carries in his truck, or the bales of hay he loads, or his ladder or his equipment trailer or his work computer. Just like the loads of laundry, the trips with a wheelbarrow, and the miles on the family van communicate the “burden” of normal life duty, the word “burden” in Galatians 6:5 communicates the normal burdens of Christian duty.
What God says in Galatians 6:4-5 is that our personal Christian duty toward God and others is the proving ground that reveals whether we are qualified not only to benefit from the fellowship of the believers, but also to help others bear burdens of restoration. The burdens of Christian duty are the sole responsibility of the believing husband, wife, student, and employee. If we “prove [our] own work,” that is, demonstrate that we are putting in the work to fulfill God’s everyday calling on our lives, we are fit to love, enjoy, and help others. If we are not assuming our own burden, then we have no business helping others fulfill theirs, and we will feel alienated from the Body of Christ.
God refers to people who are faithfully bearing their own burdens as those “that are spiritual” in verse 1. To understand what a spiritual person looks like, we need only to back up several verses to Galatians 5:22-25. Spiritual people belong to Christ (5:24), show the fruit of the Spirit in their actions (5:22-23), and have victory over the sinful desires of the flesh (5:24). This is their “walk,” the pattern of their lives (5:25). If these attributes seem disconnected from the previous command to bear the normal burdens of Christian duty, remember that it is in the normal circumstances of life, and in our various individual roles and callings, that the fruit of the Spirit and victory are either developed or not. We demonstrate whether we are bearing our burdens when the requirements of masculine or feminine, adult, or adolescent duty meet the circumstances of life. It is easy to talk lofty spiritual lingo, but our everyday duties show how spiritual we actually are.
To be spiritual according to God’s standard should seem daunting. It is. However, remember two things. First, if you are a believer, you “are Christ’s” (5:24) and you “live in the Sprit” (5:25). We obey, and He grows the fruit. We fulfill our duties, and He unites us with other believers in genuine fellowship. Second, Galatians 6:1 reminds us that even truly spiritual, responsible, qualified people understand they have not arrived. Instead of thinking they are something when they are actually nothing (v. 3), they understand and obey the command of “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” They stay vigilant, remain humble, and understand that apart from God’s help, they are nothing, not something.
Shouldering responsibility, submitting to spiritual development, and remaining humble: this is what it means to bear your own burden. Without God, nothing. In Christ, everything. And fellowship with and usefulness to the body of Christ will follow. It is simple as that.
The above article was written by Jonathan Kyser. He is a pastoral assistant at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.
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