One distinguishing characteristic of early believers was their commitment to bearing one another’s burdens. But why? What compelled them?

The answer is love—the very DNA of the Church. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Jesus Himself declared, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Love manifests in countless ways, but perhaps most powerfully through our presence in another’s pain.

This week, as we gathered for our Bible study, the theme of bearing one another’s burden stood starkly clear. As we study together, we are learning about the heart of Jesus—LOVE. His love, through His word, is teaching us to open our hearts to Him—sometimes alone, sometimes in community. Like the children’s story we shared of the paralyzed man and his friends who broke the roof to bring him to Jesus (Mark 2:1-5), we are breaking roofs through prayer to bring our friends to Jesus, too. “How many of you have friends you can bring to Jesus in prayer?” we asked. All hands shot up, each child believing Jesus could transform their friends’ lives.

Hours later, we received devastating news: Our language helper’s son suffered a brain aneurysm. For 72 hours, we sat beside this family in the hospital—sometimes singing, sometimes sharing Scripture, mostly, silently lifting our hearts to the Lord. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

Though the Lord saw fit to allow her son to go to rest, her faith in God remains as strong as ever.

Will you join us in prayer for this family? And will you ask the Lord to show you whose burden you can bear today?

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