No one on this Earth is perfect. We are all broken in some way. Some are more broken than others, some only have a few dents and dings, but we all have those cracks and imperfections that make us who we are. For me, one of those cracks is caring to a fault.
Ever since I was a young girl I had a habit of carrying other people's crosses. Taking on the weight of their burden along with my own. Many people will say that's a wonderful trait, there's nothing wrong with caring for people. They tell me I have compassion, I have a hunger for helping people. That's all fine and good, but when you lose sight of your own issues because you're so concerned with the issues of others, that is a problem. When you stop crying out to God to help you with your cracks because your time is consumed with crying out for everyone else, that's a problem.
I know that caring too much for people is a concern of mine, so I have to do service checks on my spirit on a regular basis. I have to pray and seek God to find out if the sickness that I am fighting is mine or someone else's, if the depression I feel is mine or someone else's, if the rage within me is my own or someone else's. Typically it's not my own. Though this time, it has been so long since I have done a service check that I can't distinguish any of the battles to be my own. Somewhere along the line I took up so many crosses that I must have put my own down.
Putting your own cross down to carry others. Is that a bad thing? Well it depends on how you put it down. Did you put it down mindfully to give it to God? Did you drop it along the way and forget about the log in your eye as you tried to remove the speck from your neighbor?
Have the mind of Christ and heal, mentor, teach, preach, minister to His people and He will take care of you, He will heal you and your land. He will restore to you those things that the enemy has tried to take from you. Do not grow weary in doing good, all things work together for the good, rejoice in your sufferings, bear one another's burdens, encourage one another and build each other up, but aren't we also to use wisdom? Aren't we only to give as we are able? To not be hasty in laying hands? To remain pure? To be sober minded and watchful?
Fighting along side your neighbor, your brother or sister in Christ is an amazing thing. Standing in the gap for someone is an honorable action. Praying consistently for God to move in a person's life, that is a well done my good and faithful servant action. Forgetting that your body is a temple in the process, that is sin. Sin that separates you from God.
Soldiers, I am not saying that you shouldn't carry others to the cross. I'm not saying that you shouldn't drive people to church or take time from your day to witness and testify. I'm not saying to give up on the friend, brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, cousin, husband or wife. I am saying to have wisdom. Know the difference between fighting with someone and fighting for someone. If you constantly fight for someone they will falter the moment you step away. Stop feeding God's people fish and teach them how to feed others.
Father God I pray that you check my heart, check my spirit and remove the stains that are displeasing to you. I give to you all the people in my life who's burdens I bear. I pray that you bless them and keep them and make your face shine upon them. Give them peace Lord. Father I pray that you give me peace about doing your will. I pray that you give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can but most of all, the wisdom to know the difference. In Jesus's mighty and powerful name, Amen.
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