Daily Devotional | Carry Each Other's Burdens

For over 135 years, Moody Bible Institute has relied on donors to support the school through prayers and gifts. As a former student and faculty member, I have witnessed firsthand the power of those prayers and gifts. Because others give, students can graduate and serve God without the burden of excessive loan debt.

I am sure Paul wasn’t thinking of Moody, but before he puts his pen down and seals up his letters to the Galatians, he reminds Christians to look after one another by carrying one another’s physical, emotional, and spiritual burdens. Paul was not naive. He begins with the realization that even the strongest believer can get “caught in a sin” (v. 1). But if some- one in the family of God has fallen, it is the responsibility of other believers to “restore that person gently” (v. 1). The term in secular Greek was a medical term for setting a fractured or dislocated bone. Paul wanted to make sure his readers were on guard in the face of temptation (v. 1).

Paul then encourages the Galatians to also “carry each other’s burdens” (v. 2). Believers should not have to go through tragedy and suffering alone. It is the responsibility of other believers to come alongside and help carry the yoke of another’s burdens. However, this does not mean that all the responsibility is on the person who is helping. Many times, people help with the best intentions, but they want to do everything. This is actually prideful (vv. 3–4). Instead, the believer is to help carry another’s burden, not carry their burden entirely, “for each one should carry their own load” (v. 5). When we do this, we are fulfilling the new “law of Christ” (v. 2), to love one another.

>> Did you know you can help carry the financial burden of a student who wants to get a solid biblical education at an affordable price by partnering with Moody Bible Institute? If God has laid this burden on your heart, consider making a donation today.