Week 14 “Carry one another’s burdens”
Day 2
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Gal. 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load.
Reflect:
Pride separates people; love brings them together. Pride makes us foolish. It does not allow us to see ourselves as we truly are and it prevents us from seeing others as they are. Pride loves to play the comparison game and it is that comparison that keeps us from deep, transformational engagement in the lives of others. Love is not blind to our own strengths or to others’ weaknesses. Love is not afraid of our own weaknesses or others’ strengths. Love does not play games with people. Love is interested in what is real and good. When we think too highly of ourselves, we have lost touch with reality. We are nothing apart from Jesus. What do you have that you have not been given? Even if you have “earned” something or worked hard to get to a certain level of achievement or knowledge, you were given that opportunity and that capacity. To look down on anyone in any way is foolish. To do so is to be self-deceived. Often, when people are aware that they are near the end of their lives, they finally lose interest in the comparison game. Not always, but often, things become much clearer. What others think of them becomes much less important. How they compare to others in regards to looks, possessions, or popularity tends to become a non-issue. The problem with end-of-life clarity, as valuable as it is, is that it comes at the end of your life. Solomon urged his readers to “remember your Creator in the days of your youth” (Eccl. 12:1). Has pride kept you from loving well those people God has put in your life? Are you tired of playing the empty comparison game? Will you close the gap on how you see life now and how you will see life when it is over? You do not have to wait until the end to have end-of-life clarity. This clarity will grow as you learn to look first at Jesus, then in the mirror. Look first at Jesus, then at others.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.