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Bearing Burdens

Galatians 6:1-10 talks about two different types of "one another" relations. By this, I mean it talks about carrying one another's burdens and having fellowship with one another.

In Bible study tonight we were not able to reach the second part, therefore I will save that for another post (coming next Monday). We talked a lot about how each of us deals with bearing each other's burdens and how we are called as Christians to handle such situations.

I want to think that I handle those tough situations well, but I know in reality I handle them very poorly and do not reflect Christ.

First we talked about the difference in a legalist and a freed man taking on the burden of another. The legalist will be self centered, prideful, and full of condemnation. The freed man will be Christ centered, meek, and humble. The legalist will add to the burden, where the freed man will demand more of himself to make the burden lighter. Reconciliation to the freed man will be seen as winning a soul, where as from a legalist it will be seen as winning an argument.

A realization that we came to is that it is Biblical to call fellow Christians out but it is also hard, painful, and takes time. A great analogy was it is like getting a broken bone. A bone must be set back in place and this is very painful, but once it is set it can begin to heal and function according to its purpose. A Christian in the wrong must be called out in a Biblical way. This may be painful, but once "reset" they can begin to heal and function in the way Christ intended.

The purpose of calling out is not to point out who is wrong and who is right; it is to journey together and bear each other's burdens. We are called to share in each others burdens in "one anotherness."

In the verses we read, there are two very different uses for the word "burden." This can be seen by differing translations, or the original context of the word. In verse 2, "burden" is defined as "a heavy burden," contrasting to verse 5 where "burden" is defined as "a soldier's load." With these two different meanings we see that there are some things that we cannot carry for each other, much like a soldier must carry his own pack, but we are called to be there for them on the journey, every step of the way, sharing the burdens of life.

How do you carry the burdens of others? Do you take them to the Lord, or take them upon yourself? To be honest, I sometimes, rather, often times, revert to trying to carry the load myself. I tend to ignore taking the burden to God and try to carry it myself. I try and carry my own burdens (because they shouldn't be anyone else's problem) and the burdens of others. in doing this I am sinning in two significant ways. I am not sharing my burdens, nor am I bearing the burden of others through Christ. It is at these times when I want to run away from all the burdens and hide. I see my self doing this by withdrawing from friends who are having a hard time that I cannot fix, or just trying to ignore problems that are screaming out at me from every angle. I think about it this way and want to cry out to God in repentance that I have turned from Him. I should never try to carry my own burdens without Christ, nor anyone else's. It is so shameful for me to turn from my friends when they are seeking someone to help them with their burden because I am too selfish to take their burden to God. What kind of a friend is that? I must daily remind myself that we must do nothing out of pride or contempt.

Seeing such truths are hard, but without seeing them life is even harder. I am forever grateful that God loves me despite me. I get in His way so much. I am so thankful for Christ, His love, His mercy, and His grace.

Self Governed, Others Centered, Christ Dependent

Over the last three weeks at church Kevin Huggins has been speaking on what is casually known as the "Quarter Life Crisis." This is a term becoming more and more popular, resulting in more and more researching being done on what the actual "Quarter Life Crisis" is. I was very interested in everything Kevin had to stay and couldn't write down words fast enough. I wanted to use this entry to talk through some of the great things said.

Wisdom from above is different from wisdom gained by earthly means. Grade school, college, and even graduate school can be wonderful means of gaining earthly wisdom, but bring you no close to the wisdom that God wants to instill in us by seeking after Him and studying His word. Be a wisdom hunter.

A huge characteristic of being in your 20's is discovering newly found freedoms. You have to choose whether or not you are going to stay free, or back pedal and become world dependent. Why is it so hard for us young adults to hang on to our freedom. Are we scared, or is it harder to hang on to than we initially think? The world is organized to keep us from being self governed and free, but this is why Christ died.

Christ wants self governing people to serve Him. If you are self governing then you are not serving him for any other purpose than to glorify Him. The more self governed you are, the more you stick out and it alienates you from others. Being more self governed doesn't mean less pain and hurt. It could mean exactly the opposite.

How will I use my freedom? Galatians 5:13 tells us that we are created to be free and not to use our freedom to indulge in sinful nature. Don't be consumed by each other.

God calls us to be self governed but others centered. When you are others centered it may increase your pain more than being self centered. When you are others centered your own needs sometimes do not get met but you have to trust God to meet those needs. Can you ever be others centered to a fault?

Where will you find the strength to stay free? Freedom does not mean independent, it means we choose who or what we are dependent on. We need to be dependent on Christ. The world was not designed to give us life, we were designed to pour life from Christ into the world.

What does Christ dependent look like? Seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be added to you. Do we really trust this? It is counter cultural to live with the mentality that Christ will provide. Despite this, we must always be seeking to have the biggest kingdom impact in whatever we do.

Rainy Fall Days

Well, today is just as the title says, a rainy fall day. I love days like today. It is only too bad that I have a full tiem job. If I did not I would be sitting on my couch with the door open listening to the leaves bustle and fall from trees all while reading a great novel. I know, a dream, right? Instead, today I am strugglign to keep a smiling face at work with the two year olds.
Don't get me wrong, they are adorable. But, they could have picked a better day to not do anything Leah and I have to say.
This morning we did the cutest craft. Being October and almost halloween, we are learning about funny fall creatures. Today the creature is a crow. So, we made crow wings with our hands and the body with our feet and black paint. Put a little orange beak on it and there you have, a crow that you can put in their portfolio. I will add pictures later so you see exactly what I am talking about.
Well, lunch break is over. Hopefully I will post more later. Off to change the fish bowl and drive back to work for a few more hours. Crossroad is happening tonight if anyone wants to come.

Terrible at this

Ok, this is not news to any of you faithful readers (though no one subscribes!) I am a terrible blogger. I tend to get wrapped up in the daily life of everything and forget to write it all down.

My mind moves a million miles a minute always.

I am going to take a break from updating on my reading for a minute and just share some life.

After 3 short but great months at my last job I decided it was time to move on to another school. The change was much hard than I thought, but God is so faithful and has blessed me beyond measure at the new place. I am not at Westlake WEE. I have a wonderful co-teacher who is young and newly married to a great man of God.

God is getting ready to lead me on another adventure. In December I will be moving from the place I have called home for the last 3 years. I am heartbroken, but feel very silly being attached to an apartment complex. If you ever get a chance, please check out Greenbrier Ridge. It is a wonderful community. I will dearly miss everyone there. I will be moving in the Boyds. Mary Beth and Travis have opened their home and hearts to serving me for a few months while I save on some rent and figure things out. I am at a weird stage in life where I am not ready to buy a home, but needing/ wanting out of communal living. They are a blessing in my life and I am sure living with them will mean lots of funny blogs to come.

I am babysitting and the movie is over. We are going outside to play golf before dinner! More to come.

Delay

In the last month and a half that I have not posted I have been reading through the Harry Potter series as you all know. My last blog stated that the Harry Potter books were not living up to my expectations. Let me correct this...

Harry Potter has changed my life.

I am not pushing through the books are quickly as I had hoped, but I am on the 6th one now. The fifth one, which I thought was amazing, just took me a bit longer to get through. There is so much information jammed into the books that I am reading slower to make usre I don't miss anything.

Since my last post I started a full time job. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am working an 8:30-5:30 job, Monday through Friday. I am teaching 2 year olds. Most night when I get home I am too tired to do much of anything other than lay in bed listening to the radio. However, my weekends are filled with lots of reading.

I know when I started this series I talked about how I was going to compare it to something significant. Well it has taken me 6 books to figure it out, but I am going to do the unthinkable for many Christians and state my reasons why I think Harry Potter is a modern biblical world view. This will make some of you angry, some of you very happy, and still others of you very confused. Confusion is not my intention, but I do wish to evoke some emotion. I am not saying I believe that Harry Potter shows strictly Christian values at all, I am simply making an argument that J.K. Rowling could have written the series with a connection to Biblical truth.

I think Harry Potter has a strong message about good and evil and I can think of no better analogy that one with Christ. However, I will state and stand firm in the belief that what Christ did but significantly great than that of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is a work of fiction which Christ is not.

Give me some time to finish the books and I will begin the research of the possible allegory. I am excited to see where this takes me and I hope you will embark on this journey with me. It may be a long one.

Ace

Missing

Hello Readers!

Sorry I have been missing for the last week or so. I read the first two Harry Potter books while I was at my mom's in Fairhope, Al. It was a great vacation!

Ok....so Harry Potter isn't doing it for me so far... here is the reason:

The first book= amazing

The second book= borderline terrible.

However, I am not losing hope and I will press on! I am told (by Sarah) that they get better again. I know I would have really enjoyed them while I was in middle school and high school.

I am still struggling what to base my blogs on for the series, but I have a feeling as long as I keep writing something will come up.

I haven't discovered which character I like the most yet, but I have high hopes for Hermione being the one for now. But who knows... she probably gets killed of in the next book (if you know, please don't spoil it for me!).

I did not have the third book while I was at my mom's so instead I read "The Redemption of Sarah Cain." I would recommend this book to anyone! It was amazing. It kept me reading page after page fighting to stay awake for the end. This is highly unusual for a Christian fiction book I have found. As soon as I finish the Harry Potter Series, I think I am going to start a series by the author of "The Redemption of Sarah Cain."

The way the author incorporated modern Christianity with Amish tradition was great! To hear how the New Order Amish live a simplified life was really interesting. They still use electricity, indoor plumbing, and refrigeration. They simplify by getting rid of all things unnecessary. If you don't have anything, then you never have to worry about picking up!

Well, I will write more later, I jsut had a few things to get out!

Happy reading!