Having at least one person in my life to be able to share my deepest darkest secrets with is an invaluable thing. She doesn’t judge me for my past mistakes. She loves me despite my occasional moodiness. She listens to me even if she is tired or busy or had a bad day herself. She is my mentor, but beyond that, she has become my friend. She is someone who prays for me and sends me a text to tell me so. She is someone I can text anytime and I know she will respond with love.
This is exactly what Paul is speaking to the churches of Galatia when he wrote the Epistle to them.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
In his Epistle, Paul is outlining the Jewish law and how it applies to the new Christians. The churches of Galatia were founded by Paul and are formed primarily of converts from the Jewish faith and heathens. The Galatians were under the heavy Judean influence and Paul writes his letter to them to reinforce the importance of holding steadfast to their Christian beliefs.
The world wants us to believe we can do things alone. God wants us to be a part of a community.
This sort of reminds me of how I felt before recovery. I, too, was under the heavy influence, but it was from the world, not the Bible. The world wants us to believe we can do things alone without any help. The world tells us we need to consume more and more in order to live a happy life. The world says “look at her and how beautiful her life looks on {insert any social media channel you want here}. The idea of the world is for us to:
Be self-sufficient
Buy as much as possible to fill our empty spaces
Compare ourselves to others
This is the opposit