Compassion Towards Others

"Help carry each other’s burdens..." Paul writing to the churches in Galatia The Pauline Epistles which make up 1/3rd of the New Testament Bible are basically the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Some of his epistles are described as pastoral, meaning these are teachings for church pastors and leaders. Some of these were prison epistles and these were the ones he wrote while he was imprisoned. There are those written to Gentile churches, to individuals and those written for Jewish Christians. The letter to the Galatians was either written for one, a few or to all the many churches scattered in several cities throughout Galatia. The city of Antioch, where the early believers were first called Christians, was in Galatia. Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch and taught and ministered to the believers there for one year early in their missionary trips. (Acts 11:25-26) Paul wrote to Galatia because for just a short time, the believers there have already moved away from the core teachings he taught them and so they needed a refresher course to put them back on track. In Galatians chapter 6 verse 2, Paul told them to share one another burdens, meaning to help each other out, because this is what Jesus would have done. This is what we are supposed to be doing up to today. Jesus didn't just have passion, He also had compassion. Paul in the same way had compassion for the church in Galatia because like Jesus he understand their plight. The Galatians were his spiritual children. And he too was once lost and thought what he knew was right. His is real compassion because like Jesus, he himself went through the same sufferings, sorrow and burdens they were are going through and so he, like Jesus had a real desire to help carry their burdens with them. And not only that, each one of us are being told to do the same thing. I know each one of us is carrying a burden or two, or more of our own. And that is why Paul is telling us to “help carry each other’s burdens”. Because that is how Jesus would have done it and that is what Jesus taught his disciples to do. Let us pray for one another, lift one another up and help one another out in any way we can, because isn’t that what the spirit of Christmas is all about? Love coming down from heaven and the same love being shared out from every Christian’s heart.