9 FAITH IN CHRIST
Backpacks and Boulders By Caleb Smith
As I am writing this, school has just started back, kids are either excitedly or hesitantly getting back into a routine of waking up early and heading off to school each morning. I have a 5th grader and 9th grader this year. Two different schools, two different levels of education, and two different expectations for what is needed in class. I remember when I was in High School I had a locker but I rarely used it so I ended up carrying a backpack around that weighed close to 30 pounds. It had about four textbooks along with three to four different binders full of papers. It was very cumbersome and made it difficult to navigate around. One thing I didn’t do was ask for help carrying it. Why? Because it was my backpack, my choice to load it down, my load to carry. In Galatians chapter 6 verses 2 through 5, the apostle Paul talks about two different loads we carry around with us – “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.” In the first part of this passage Paul mentions the heavy burdens, or boulders, that each of us will have to carry in our lives. This could cover a multitude of things: loss of a loved one, major illness, accident, divorce, etc. These are things in our lives that happen to us that we can’t necessarily control and shouldn’t have to carry alone. Over the last year some of you reading this have had some boulders that you have had to carry alone. Either because your pride kept you from asking for help or you simply didn’t have a support group around you to lovingly come alongside you. Paul’s challenge to the church here is 2-fold. First, if we see a brother or sister in Christ being burdened with a boulder we should come alongside them and help them carry this burden that is much too large for them to carry alone. Second, if we are carrying this boulder alone, we need to ask for help from our brothers and sisters in Christ so we don’t become overwhelmed. As the body of Christ, we are gifted and called to work together for the glory of God and that means helping each other, through the power of the Holy Spirit, when our boulders are too heavy.
Caleb Smith is Pastor at River Point Community Church located at 70 Old Livery St. in Clayton, Georgia. River Point is a non-denominational, community-driven church committed to leading people into a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Pastor Smith and his family have made their home in Rabun and are happy to be part of this mountain community. If you’d like additional information please call 706-960-9275 or message caleb@rpcc.me
54 www.gmlaurel.com - September 2021