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Speaking Sound Doctrine |
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Galatians 6:5 For each one will bear his own load.
The whole industrial
world moves on roller bearings: they're everywhere.
A machine was being
repaired because of roller bearing failure.
The repairman said the machine had never been put into service; it sat
on a shelf for two years and never ran.
The bearings were damaged from lack of use. To survive, bearings require lubrication,
which virtually eliminates metal-to-metal contact. However, when they sit idly, the lubrication
is squeezed out from between the surfaces, and the protection is lost. Then, with the slightest vibration, severe
damage will result. Roller bearings need
to be in motion to survive. Furthermore,
they need to be carrying some load.
Unloaded bearing rollers will slide rather than roll, which leads to a
different kind of failure.
A Christian is like a
roller bearing. His God-given function
is to be active: it is for his own good.
We all have our burdens to bear, whether the everyday challenges of life
or the burdens of a sacrificial life to God.
1 Corinthians 15: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your
toil is not in vain in the
Lord.
If we sit idly, we
forsake the will of God. The end of that
condition is that we will squeeze God out of our lives, the one who supplies
what we need.
1 Kings 19:13 And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 Then he
said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the
sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed
Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to
take it away." 15 The LORD said to him, "Go…"
The trials that we
endure increase our strength and our hope.
Without this testing, the slightest tribulation that would come along
will wreck our faith.
Romans 5:3 And not only this, but we also exult in our
tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
James 1:2 Consider it
all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,3 knowing
that the testing of your faith produces endurance.4
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
Much of New Testament
admonition concerning endurance is in connection with severe physical
persecution. Our load is not as heavy;
even in Hebrews the writer states:
Hebrews 10:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of
shedding blood in your striving against sin.
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may
receive what was promised
On the original New
Testament word for "endurance," William Barclay writes:
It is not the patience
which can sit down and bow its head and let things descend upon it and
passively endure until the storm is past….
It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but
with blazing hope; it is not the spirit which sits statically enduring in the
one place, but the spirit which bears all things because it knows that these
things are leading to a goal of glory; it is not the patience which grimly
waits for the end, but the patience which radiantly hopes for the dawn.
Consider Jesus, the
perfect example of load bearing.
Hebrews 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will
not grow weary and lose heart.
Give yourself to Him
this day; He'll share your load.
20.Nov.2002
Copyright 2021, Speaking Sound Doctrine