Category: From Our President

Galatians 6:2, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without burdens. Mounce defines burden as “heaviness; a burden, anything grievous, and hard to be borne.” Another definition states that it is “burdensome weight in reference to its pressure, burden, load.” Perhaps if someone asked you to define it, there might be other words that you would use. If someone asked you what a burden feels like, your mind would probably produce many images difficult to describe with words. None of us are exempt. The burden that you bear could be very different from others of which you are aware, but they are heavy nonetheless. Our quick declaration to those burdened down today would be to trust the Lord. Obviously that is true, but is that all? No, we are instructed to “bear ye one another’s burdens.” Harry Ironside says, “The law of Christ is the law of love, and love seeks to help others in their distress and share the load with them.” Our Lord taught that the greatest of all laws was to love God, but there was one law inseparably bound to that one. We are to love our neighbor.

It isn’t always what we say or even do. When a friend carries a heavy burden, simply knowing that you care means so much. How busy would you be today if your shoulders were stooped with care? I noticed when my dad died that nothing else in the world mattered. It was as if the world stood still, and everything in me focused on nothing else. Someone you know might be there today. Do they know you care? Yes, it means that we are at times inconvenienced. Have you ever been in a traffic jam and found yourself complaining because of the delay? Then you saw why you sat still for so long. Maybe someone was seriously injured in an accident. The price you paid for sitting still was far less than than their price, wasn’t it? Every situation is certainly different, but consider what others did during your trial that blessed you, and seek to incorporate those in the lives of others.

It is no small matter to fulfill the law of Christ. Many words are not necessary. Great expenditures are not needed. So, how do we know what to say or do? Love! When care is conveyed, the burdened are blessed. In the end, only the Lord can meet the need of the broken, but we can assure them that they are not alone. When the law of Christ is obeyed, all are blessed even in difficult times.

If your heart is not bent in this direction, perhaps you could schedule some time on a regular basis to ponder the needs of others until caring becomes a natural part of your life. If you do care, pray for our Lord’s wisdom in bearing the burdens of others.

John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone
President

Do you have an electronic device or kitchen appliance that has a reset button?  Many times you can use one of these and not even know it has one simply because there is not a need for it.  However, when the day does come that it is needed it is the first thing to look for.  Perhaps there is an electrical surge that would have destroyed the device or appliance, but it was saved by a small circuit breaker that kept the power from torching it.  When that happens you can just press the reset button and you are back in business.

So many things clamor for our attention these days.  We have often heard someone say, “information overload!”  There was a day when things were not so complicated.  You would know the people that lived right around you, and probably every intimate detail of their lives, but apart from them you only knew what the evening news would tell you in half an hour.  Today, twenty four hours a day we are bombarded with information every waking hour.  It is so easy to lose sight of the important things in the midst of all of the “information overload.”

Is it time to pause and look for the reset button.  We know that we need to pray, read our Bibles, study the Word, witness to others of the saving grace of God, and teach others how to live out their faith.  Have you noticed how easily the world can overrun these very important things in our lives.  It seems obvious that we have many responsibilities because we are saved by the mercy of God, but because of our calling these duties are even more obvious.  We have been specifically called of our Lord to go into the world to witness, baptize and teach.  How can we justifiably permit the world to so intrude into our lives to the degree that these things are put on the back shelf and gotten to only when time permits?

Press the reset button on your life today if the circuit has indeed been broken.  Let’s focus on the things that not only matter for time, but for eternity as well.  Let’s move on from the survival mode the the service mode.  We are servants of the living God, and we have been sent out to serve among a very specific people.  That isn’t to say that our burden isn’t for the entire world, but by virtue of our call of God He has gotten very specific with our location.  Look around today and see the faces of the souls that the Lord has put you in the midst of, then ask yourself if you are truly focused on completing the task given you by God.

It is good to understand the unfolding of events surrounding us today, but not to the exclusion of our duty before God.  Paul fought a good fight.  Paul finished his course.  Paul kept the faith.  Are we?

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone
President