Alone – Part One
Bob Rakestraw
September 5, 2012
“The Benediction
Project”
I am a strong believer in people being with people and
people helping people. To live in this world we need one another almost as much
as we need food and water. We especially need groups, whether they be local
church congregations, study groups, book clubs, or support groups for those
grieving, for addicts or for new parents. Groups of seven or under where the
common desire is to know and follow God totally, are particularly beneficial to
the participants. Even two or three people can constitute a strong life-giving
support group.
I do not like to think of where I would be today if it were
not for the many small groups, especially prayer groups, of which I have been a
part during the nearly half-century of my Christian life. The picture would not
be pretty. I am fairly sure that, without these groups in my life, if I still
called myself a Christian, I would be a self-centered, prideful, opinionated,
self-deceived, lonely and critical person, looking down on most people (and
churches) and having little or no compassion toward the poor, the sick, the
blind, the deaf, the lame, the mentally ill, the immigrant, the hungry, the
jobless, the abused, and those who do not know Jesus Christ. I might have a
strong interest in the Bible and certain theological issues and beliefs, but I
would likely avoid (or be so blind as not to notice) the great amount of
scripture that points Christ’s followers toward a holistic love of God and
neighbor.
Having said all this, however, I firmly believe that each of
us must learn to walk through life alone. Christian or non-Christian, strong
believer or merely religious, everyone must journey alone on this path called
life.
This sounds, I realize, like the complete opposite of what I
just wrote about people needing people. But as I have lived my life I have
learned that these are not polar opposites but complementary facets of one’s
existence. Each is a vital truth that must be faced, understood accepted and
embraced.
The apostle Paul brings these two aspects of life together
nicely in his letter to the Galatians, chapter six. In the King James Version
we first read, “bear ye one another’s burdens” (v. 2), but three verses later, “every
man shall bear his own burden” (v. 5). At first reading it appears that Paul is
contradicting himself, but this learned rabbi, a specialist in both the Hebrew
and Greek languages, would surely not contradict himself in such a brief,
tightly argued section of his letter.
It is helpful to know that Paul is not using the same Greek
word for “burden” in these two verses, although their meanings are similar and
overlapping. The word in verse two (baros),
is used of “the burden and heat of the day” (Matthew 20:12) and other figurative
kinds of the pressures of life. It refers to a heavy and oppressive weight, and
here in Galatians it is referring to the weight of temptation and spiritual
failure. Paul exhorts the spiritual believer in the community to restore gently
those struggling with these issues.
The word in verse 5 (phortion)
has a similar but not identical sense. While it is used to speak of “burdens grievous
to be borne” (Luke 11:46) and the crushing weight imposed by the legalistic
teachers and Pharisees (Matthew 23:4), it also has the sense of a lighter load,
like a shoulder-pack, as a porter, peddler or marching soldier might carry. It
is this word Jesus used when he said, “my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Even
though we all must carry our own backpack, Jesus says it is light. When Jesus says “my burden is light” he is teaching that even though we must carry it, if he packs our load and places it on our
backs it will be light.
In the context of Galatians 6, then, Paul instructs us to
bear one another’s burdens when their spiritual weaknesses are evident, but to
be very careful not to consider ourselves superior to the fallen. We are to
concentrate on our own lives and work, and in this sense we must carry our load
alone.
I remember when, well into mid-life, the truth of my
aloneness struck me. As far as I can recall it did not come from something I
heard, some article I read or something from any human source, although I had
thought about Galatians 6:5 many times over the years. At first this reality
stunned me, saddened me and even frightened me. Even though I had a wonderful
wife, two delightful daughters and their families, and great friends, there was
not a single person on earth who could fully understand me nor resolve my
deepest issues and concerns. These constituted my burden, even though the burden was given to me by Jesus. There
was no one who could really meet my needs. Yet it is no exaggeration to say
that this truth is one of the most valuable insights I have ever received from
the Lord about living life successfully.
If you love me, you will obey what
I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
[or Comforter] to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … Because I live,
you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and
you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:15-20, NIV; see also I John 4:12-16).
God willing, I will complete this essay in my next posting.
