If you listen closely you will hear this question echoing through the rooms in every church. If you really open your ears you will hear more than just the words, you will sense the desperation. If you linger long enough you will experience the undeniable nudging of God to do something. If you respond. If your fellow Christ followers choose to act. If your collect of Christ followers makes it their vision. Something new, something fresh, something sacrificial takes over the very being of who we are as individuals and as a collective of people who follow the Son of God.
Why don’t we just move on?
If you listen closely you will hear this question echoing through the rooms in every church. If you really open your ears you will hear more than just the words, you will sense the aggravation. If you linger long enough you will experience the undeniable nudging from within to get busy doing something. If you choose to ignore. If you think all their issues are just a weak people wallowing. If you think others should just move on, suck it up. If you think you have it all figure out and can’t understand why others haven’t. Something new, something fresh, something sacrificial will never take over the very being of who you are as an individual and you will not contribute the way God intended to your collective of people who follow the Son of God.
Why should I be bored just because others can’t move on?
If you listen closely you will hear this question echoing through the rooms in every church. If you really open your ears you will hear more than just the words, you will sense the frustration. If you linger long enough you will experience the undeniable nudging of self and God to do something. If you choose to ignore God you will remain bored. If you choose to ignore self you will become busy. Not busy for the sake of being busy. Not busy because you have it all figured out. Busy because you are working on you and because you are supporting others. Something new, something fresh, something sacrificial is taking place in you individually and in you as you contribute the way God intended as part of your collective of Christ followers.
You can’t get bored when you respond to God’s call.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. Galatians 6:2-5 (NIV)
If you have a free hand because you have less baggage, offer to help others with some of theirs.
Bear one another’s burdens.
If you want something else to do, look inside yourself, test your actions to make sure you are Godly.
Carry your own load.
If you think you are ready to move on or others should move on you aren’t stepping up.
Think you’re something? Don’t deceive yourself.
live4him.ca 
Excellent thoughts, David… I have believed for a long time that praying fervently for others is the best way to bear each other’s burdens. It is sometimes the most we can do, and other times just the beginning. I have also found that sometimes it is during prayer that the Holy Spirit nudges us to action on the behalf of the ones we are praying for. There is no set system, HE acts uniquely for each one… Sometimes He tells me to text, other times to write a note, call, take a meal or just keep praying. All in all, it is our part to stay humble, listening and responding as He leads. Oh, how I pray I do.
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so true – I wish more would pray and let God direct rather than jump in a try to fix – The Holy Spirit is alive and well and nudging all but only those who will take the time to listen keep in step with the Spirit
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AMEN!!!
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I love this. I have had feelings on both sides. Or all three? We have a prayer list for our church with about 400 requests, read daily, that I am responsible for the secretarial work – my leader tells me who is off and who stays. That becomes the tricky thing with my attitude. The rules are that the request goes onto the list one month and stays for five months more unless we hear that the need for prayer is over. (We still have a prayer for everyone that has ever been on this list.) But then, we have people on the team who will not allow their friend or loved one to be placed in the “prayer box” (meaning that we continue to pray for them, but not by uttered name each day). The rub is that if the list grows too much, I have to get creative to prevent an added postage expense. One more page and we are there. So, I keep asking why these “chosen” people have been on for 10 years while the rest are dropped after six months. And on occasion, my leader (of the prayer team), with great patience, pulls me aside and basically asks me about your last point. But I have asked about what the prayer team has faith in. If we are praying, but not mentioning the name, God still hears the prayer. We just had an email about a young woman with metastasized liver cancer (five young children), no more treatment, wait to die. We had lost contact with the caregiver and placed her in the prayer box, but then the email said, four months later, that she seems to be fully cured and the doctors cannot explain it. That prayer box that some of the prayer team refuses to trust is just as affective. So, maybe I am asking for prayers for the prayer team, and for my patience with those who hand off their baggage for others to carry. And on an odd note, my wife with end stage kidney failure has begged to be placed in the prayer box, but as a long-time prayer team member, the prayer team leader refuses her request. She remains on the list.
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