GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

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We’re to carry each other’s burdens.

This means we’re to help our brothers and sisters carry the heavy burdens of life—a terrible loss, a crushing circumstance, a painful diagnosis. These are the kinds of troubles that threaten to overwhelm and destroy us, similar to the pressing weight of the cross that Jesus carried to Golgotha (John 19:17).

Like Simon from Cyrene, who shouldered the heavy wooden cross with Jesus (Mark 15:21), we’re to step in with support for our friends, even if that means we carry their burden for a while. Martin Luther referred to this as the law of mutual love. As a community of believers, we are to work together to face life’s many challenges (Galatians 6:2).

Our acts of love and support for one another as we help each other face the troubles in our homes, our careers, our marriages, and with our health complete this “law of Christ.” We build our lives on the promise of the Father, who will never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6), and we offer that same promise to our families and friends.

We carry each other’s burdens when we collectively pour out our hearts to God. It’s only human to feel all sorts of emotions when we face a crisis: fear, anger, worry, depression, resentment, helplessness.

Christ-community offers a powerful setting to be candid about our feelings and fears (Psalm 62:8), and this shared transparency moves us closer to oneness with God: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18 NIV).

The worst thing we can do when we’re going through a crisis is to isolate ourselves. We need others to help us carry our burdens and to offer us support, encouragement, and their simple presence (Proverbs 18:24).

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

The LORD turned to [Gideon] and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” Judges 6:14 (NIV)

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Gideon was the least member of the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh.

His task on the day in question was the tedious threshing of wheat, a process where the cereal grain is knocked loose from the chaff.

But this devotional is not about agriculture. It’s about God’s ability to see you for who you are meant to be not for what you appear to be. God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior and judge who would lead the Israelites back to their proper worship of God (Judges 6:12).

Gideon, on the other hand, saw himself as just a guy cranking wheat through a creaky old winepress.

But that didn’t matter to God. He told Gideon: “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14 NIV).

(Note to future servants of God: The strength of the Sender is more important than the strength, or perceived weakness, of the one being sent.)

Gideon was still stuck in tunnel vision, believing what he thought and what he saw was the truth. To paraphrase the ancient Hebrew, Gideon told God, “I just don’t have what it takes, Lord. I know you’re perfect, but I think you made a mistake” (Judges 6:15 NIV).

Again, paraphrasing the ancient Hebrew, God says to Gideon, “Get your head out of the wheat dust and pay attention to me. I will be with you and so, yes, you will strike down all the Midianites as if they are no more than one man” (Judges 6:16).

It doesn’t matter what Gideon says about himself or what others say about Gideon. Only one opinion counts: God’s.

What God says about Gideon is the truth.

What God says about you is the truth. You are a precious child, created in his image; a sweet aroma that is pleasing to the Lord.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)

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Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t want to be? Maybe it was a job, a town, or a marriage. Maybe it was a stage in life, like singlehood, or a state in life, like a disability. It’s very possible that as you read this, you’re wishing you were somewhere else—anywhere else—living a different life, but you know it’s not likely that anything is going to change any time soon.

God has a word for you. It’s the same word he gave a group of people when they were stuck in another country, exiled from their homeland. They’d folded their arms and said, “We’re going to wait this thing out, and when we get home, we’ll start living our lives.”

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told them, “You’re not going home any time soon, so start making your lives here. Plant gardens, buy homes, let your children get married, and pray for the peace and prosperity of the place where you’re currently living because, by doing that, you too will be blessed with peace and prosperity” (Jeremiah 29:5–7).

Don’t invest your energy in hopes of leaving; instead invest your energy in the people around you. Don’t be physically present but mentally somewhere else, thinking of the future or the past, thinking of someplace else. Our journey with Jesus requires we be fully present in the present.

You may feel like you’re in exile too, but God is still working in your life; and his message to you is: Dig in and fully embrace the life around you.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV)

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Black smoke rose in a shaky image shot from a helicopter hovering over a neighborhood in Miami, Florida known as Liberty City. At street level, a riot raged with eighteen people dead and 850 arrested.

My dad, a special investigator for a government agency in the Miami-Dade County area, sat with me watching the violence on our TV screen.

In a matter of fact manner, my dad said, “That’s exactly where I’m scheduled to be today.” His investigation was unrelated to what was happening.

I said, “Why go there in the middle of a riot? Why don’t you tell them you can’t come; you can always reschedule for another day.”

A strong but gentle man, my dad looked at me and said, “Why wouldn’t I go? It’s my job to go.”

It was an “Aha!” moment for me. Of course, he’d go. He’d made a commitment. He was going to be where he was supposed to be, regardless of the circumstances.

The same way he flew Cold War reconnaissance missions along the borders of the Soviet Union. The same way he took pictures from above that showed Cuban missiles sites being assembled on the ground below.

The same way he stood with me, day in and day out throughout his life.

In that moment, I grasped the example. I understood the importance of remaining committed regardless of the difficulty or how unreasonable it might seem, even in the face of chaotic adversity.

My dad spoke more by what he did than by what he said. For me, his example became the story of God at work in a human life.

I learned to stay at the task even when there seems to be little hope because, in that moment, you learn the only hope you ever had was in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.