Carrying Christ's Burdens

This is Day 6 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

I often pray that God will lift my burdens or at least help me to lift them. This is good. It is an admission that I cannot do it on my own and I need God. But when can I repay the favor? I like to repay favors. When someone has helped me, for example when my friends have helped me move, I want to pay them back by helping them move. But God doesn't need me for anything.

When God was incarnate on Earth in the person of Jesus Christ others helped lift His burdens. Most notably was Simon the Cyrene who literally helped carry the burden of the cross up the hill to Golgotha. Imagine the honor of being asked to lift God's burden from His shoulders. But Christ will not be crucified again, so there will be no opportunity for me to carry the cross for Him.

But there is another way that I can help lift God's burdens--by lifting the burdens of the needy among us. Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, that whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

God wants us to help others to lift their burdens. He doesn't need us to, He could do it on His own, but He wants us to. And whenever we do so, we are not just helping the person, but helping Christ Himself. We receive lots of favors from God. Many times we don't even realize it. And the way we return the favor is by helping our fellow man. Jesus wants us to see His face in the people we come across every day. So this Lent strive to help anyone who needs it. Don't refuse to help a brother or sister, because when you do, you are refusing Christ Himself.

R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Peter Puckett series, a Christian children's fantasy that explores what it means to know and love Christ through exciting adventures.His books and blog can be found at rcvanlandingham.com.