Devotional: Can You Carry Your Brother or Sister?
In a fractured age such as the one that we are living in, there are bound to be fractured people. Perhaps even you are feeling fractured, wounded, or tired. You may feel as though the burdens that this year has cast upon you so far are too heavy to bear. However, God took this into account when looking at your life, and the lives of others. He has given us community, so that the burdens that we are faced with are not faced alone. Just as we are never alone because God is with us, we are never alone when we are a part of the body of Christ. Our brothers and sisters need us to help carry their burdens, and we can allow them to help us carry our own burdens.
Questions for Meditation
- Why is community so important in times like this?
- What does it mean to carry the burdens of your brothers and sisters?
- What does it take to carry someone else’s burdens?
- When we are carrying another person’s burdens, what does it mean to see the person and not the issue? What would this look like for you as you interact with those who are hurting around you?
- With reason, this is a time that emotions are flying high, both for you and your brother/sister. What does it look like to process these valid emotions in a way that does not cost us our witness to the watching world?
- What are the four tendencies of a wounded person that Pastor Toledo mentioned? What is the difference between a wounded person and a wounded spirit?
- What are some wounds that you see around you that you can help bandage, with the power of the Holy Spirit? What are some wounds that you need to let God, and others, heal?