Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”
Our Bible verse for today: “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 (HCSB) … “For each person will have to carry his own load.” Galatians 6:5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Responsible “to” or responsible “for”?
This morning I want to continue our discussion from yesterday regarding how much we are to buy into other people’s problems. This is important because it’s often a matter of confusion for many Christians. Sometimes we’re so eager to help others that we cross the line into enabling bad behavior or carrying burdens for people that they really should be carrying for themselves (and there are plenty of people who are more than happy for us to carry their burdens for them).
Henry Cloud and John Townsend offer some helpful advice about this in their book “Boundaries”. In a section which helps to clarify the difference between being responsible “to” someone and being responsible “for” someone, they discuss the apparent contradiction we find in what Paul wrote in the verses from Galatians chapter six cited above. Their explanation is helpful so I will summarize it for our purposes here:
We are responsible to others and for ourselves. “Carry one another’s burdens,” says Galatians 6:2, “in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” This verse shows our responsibility “to” one another.” What that means is that sometimes people have burdens that are too big for them to bear alone. They don’t have enough strength, or resources, or knowledge to carry that load themselves and therefore they need some help for a little while. It’s something they simply cannot do alone and therefore our assistance is not only appropriate, but it’s also a demonstration of the love of Christ.
But then on the other hand, verse five tells us that each person is also responsible for carrying their own load. This means that the burdens and problems in question are the responsibility of that individual and that they are within that person’s ability to deal with on their own. That person does or should have the strength, resources, and knowledge to handle this, and therefore they should handle it for themselves. If a person is capable of handling an issue or problem themselves, but you and I step in and handle it for them, or we provide them more assistance than is appropriate, we have crossed the line into enabling.
At different times each of us encounters situations in life that we simply cannot handle alone. That’s where our responsibility “to” each other kicks in. We are to help one another carry those burdens. But most of the difficulties people encounter in life don’t fall into that category. Most of the things people are faced with are things they can handle themselves and therefore they should. That’s what verse five means. We are responsible “for” ourselves and we should each be carrying our own load to the greatest extent possible.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 