Written by Dawn Rutan
I’m finally getting back to routine after a couple weeks of convention chaos, and so I thought I’d borrow an idea from Rev. Clio Thomas’s sermon “Everybody Has Something.” We all have some challenge we’re trying to cope with. Each one is different in type, complexity, and our response to it.
Some book I read recently made the point that it doesn’t make any sense for us to compare our burdens with one another. Yes, some others may look larger or smaller than ours, but that doesn’t mean they are any more or less important. Comparison only tends to lead to either pride or shame. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I can’t complain, there are people far worse off than I am.” I would hope that people who say that are honestly praising God in the midst of their burdens, but from what I’ve seen, that is often not the case. Many are subconsciously saying, “I’m ashamed that I can’t handle this and I don’t want to ask for help.” (Been there, done that.)
It doesn’t really matter how our burden compares with someone else’s. It may be physical, emotional, relational, spiritual, or occupational. It may be urgent or chronic, temporary or permanent. The thing we need to remember is that if it matters to us, it matters to God. He told us to cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), not just the ones that are big enough to count or are comparatively bigger than the average of others’ burdens.
We’re also told to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 ESV). That’s not easy to do if we’re busy judging one another and comparing burdens. We’ve probably all been told that too much of our prayer time is occupied with physical needs of people. But what that means is not that we should not pray for the physical, but that we should increase the amount of time spent praying for other types of needs as well. If we took this seriously, we would all be praying a lot more.
As we seek to love and serve one another in the Body of Christ, the only comparison that should come to mind is God’s greatness and love toward His weak and sinful children who are totally undeserving of His care and compassion.
“What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:4).
“You have multiplied, O Lord my God, Your wondrous deeds and Your thoughts toward us; none can compare with You! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told” (Psalm 40:5).
