In Galatians 6:1-2, Paul exhorted the brethren to bear each other’s burdens, but in Galatians 6:3-5, he made it clear that in order to do that, they must bear their own burdens first. When we step forward to bear a brother’s burden, we are trying to snatch him out of the devil’s snare, so that this brother will not lose his testimony for Christ. We are at the frontline of a spiritual battle. Thus, before we can bear another’s burdens, we must first bear our own burdens in the following ways:

1. Discard the burden of pride (Gal 6:3): Helping others by our own abilities, connections, resources, for our own glory, will lead us to pride. The aim of helping others must be to point them to Christ, not to ourselves. God used forty years (in the wilderness of Midian) to rid Moses of his reliance on self and connections, before God could use him to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses was right when he said, “Who am I…?” (Exod 3:11). We are spiritually unable to help another, until we discard our pride. As God’s humble servants, we must be totally dependent on God when helping others.

2. Develop the burden of balance (Gal 6:4): Each phase of our life will bring about changes in: (a) our inner man, i.e. physiologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually; (b) our circumstances/situations, and with it, different challenges and troubles. We must be able to bear our own burdens as we enter the different phases of life. We must “prove” (i.e. test) our work by ensuring that we are saved (i.e. having the evidences of salvation) before we can help others. It is sad when we point others to Christ and find ourselves to be outside God’s kingdom. Our rejoicing is not only that others are saved, having come out of the valley of despondency, but that we are saved ourselves and are growing well spiritually.

3. Sustain the burden of responsibility (Gal 6:5): The “burden” in verse 2 refers to something that is heavy/weighted, like a dead weight (when you share another’s burden). The “burden” in verse 5 is different. It refers to the responsibilities that God has given to us before we take on others. We must take care of our responsibilities before we can bear another’s burden. We grow from being dependent to being independent before going on to interdependent. Before we can be interdependent (i.e. bear others’ burdens), we must first be independent.

We must know ourselves (our spiritual gifts; calling) and strengthen every area of our life, that we may be strong and stable to bring glory to God and be a blessing to others. “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess 5:16-18).