SHARING A BURDEN<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n IS BETTER THAN<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n CARRYING A GRUDGE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n <\/p>\n When they asked Jesus what the most important thing in life that we need to do, He gave a two part answer:<\/p>\n We’re free to do what we want to do, or to say what we want to say, or to think what we want to think.\u00a0 But those choices should move us towards our purpose in life.\u00a0 If “Option A” brings us closer to our purpose, but “Option B” pushes us in the wrong direction, than “Option A” is “Better” than “Option B.” \u00a0 In other words, “Sharing a Burden” is BETTER than “Carrying a Grudge” because sharing a burden helps us love God and neighbors while “Carrying a Grudge” pushes us away from that purpose.<\/p>\n Let’s look at these two options (we’ll save the BETTER for last…)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Somebody did something to you.\u00a0 Maybe it was a long time ago in High School (if High School isn’t “a long time ago” for you, you can probably imagine a different situation…<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 Somebody made fun of you.\u00a0 Called you a derogatory name.\u00a0 Talked about you behind your back.\u00a0 Copied your answers on a test and got you in trouble.\u00a0 Took your homework.\u00a0 Stole your girlfriend or boyfriend.\u00a0 Borrowed your car and got into an accident.<\/p>\n We’ve all had situations like that.\u00a0 Somebody did something to you and the relationship was ruined.\u00a0 How could you ever be friends with someone who did this terrible thing to you?\u00a0 Could you even talk to them again?\u00a0 And it seems like it was just yesterday.\u00a0 How could you ever forgive them?\u00a0 You might as well just move on with life without liking this person.\u00a0 You can avoid him or her; just pretend this person doesn’t exist and stay away from any place where they might happen to show up.<\/p>\n Time passes by, and the grudge outlives the offense.\u00a0 You still avoid the person and think bad of them, but like the Hatfields and McCoys, you’ve totally forgotten what the problem was.<\/p>\n You make new friends, grow into a more mature situation, but time still hasn’t healed this relationship.\u00a0 This person becomes friends with one of your friends.\u00a0 Now it’s even harder to avoid him\/her.\u00a0 So you smile and try to be friendly on the outside, but inside you’re still burning.<\/p>\n Maybe this person is doing some great things.\u00a0 Your friends speak well of this person and you begin to feel angry with them for this betrayal, even though they have no clue about your grudge (it happened long before they even knew you).\u00a0 And if you told your friends about the evil this person did, they’d probably tell you to grow up and drop this silly grudge;\u00a0 and then side with the person you’ve come to hate.<\/p>\n Carrying a grudge is a heavy load.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you think about what it means to “share a burden”, you’ll see that there are two “flavors” of sharing burdens…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here’s a baseball story…<\/p>\n The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets baseball teams are in the same division and are fierce rivals.\u00a0 Philly fans don’t like the Mets, and the feeling in New York is mutual!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In September 2016, when playing the Phillies, Met’s infielder Asdrubal Cabrera hit a game winning home run.\u00a0 Before circling the bases to end the game, Cabrera raised his arms in victory, and then… flipped his bat.\u00a0 Celebration is understandable, even when endured by the loosing team.\u00a0 But that bat toss; the flip is considered crossing the line.\u00a0 Loosing teams see it as if the other team is “rubbing it in.”\u00a0 It’s not good baseball etiquette.<\/span><\/p>\n In April of 2017 the Phillies and Mets faced eachother for the first time since that incident.\u00a0 And, the Phillies pitcher who gave up that game winning home run was on the mound.\u00a0 And Cabrera came to the plate.\u00a0 The Phillies pitcher, Edubray Ramos throw his first pitch at Cabrera’s head!\u00a0 Tensions were high, tempers were stretched.\u00a0 Cabrera’s offense from a year earlier was remembered.<\/span><\/p>\n But in July 2018, a major touch of\u00a0 irony invaded the situation.\u00a0 During each season, limits on trades between teams are imposed on July 31, so there’s always a frenzy of trades between teams doing well and those who are looking to “have better luck next year.”<\/span><\/p>\n On July 27 2016, the Phillies sent some minor leaguers to the New York Mets to acquire- of all people- Asdrubal Cabrera.\u00a0 Instead of being fierce rivals and harboring anger about the injustices done between them, beanball pitcher Edubray Ramos and bat-flipping batter Asdrubal Cabrera were now teammates!\u00a0 Something had to happen to that grudge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What happened, is that the grudge ended.\u00a0 What happened, is that the two former enemies were now teammates, sharing the same burden of trying to win a championship for the Philadelphia Phillies.\u00a0 A 7\/30\/18 article in in the Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Ramos’ reaction to his new teammate:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “We shook hands, we hugged it out, we talked about it” Ramos said.\u00a0 “At the end of the day, we’re both professionals and we’re here to help the same team win.\u00a0 That’s pretty much the bottom line.\u00a0 Good thing it was just one of those things you can talk about and get over.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n In order to unite and to be on the same team, everyone involved had to decide to drop their grudge and to pick up the burden.\u00a0 Both players were on equal footing.\u00a0 Both were equally right and equally wrong. But to pull\u00a0 together, the pitcher had to drop his grudge about “showing him up” and the batter had to drop his grudge “he threw at me.”<\/p>\n As Ramos said, “Good thing it was just one of those things you can talk about and get over…”\u00a0Paul put it this way:<\/p>\n \nMake allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.<\/span><\/p>\n Colossians 3:13-15<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n To be effective teammates, they needed to drop the grudge; to be bound “together in perfect harmony.”\u00a0 Grudges must be dropped right away.\u00a0 Holding the grudge instead of picking up the “burden of unity” would create a distraction that would control the relationship and ruin team work…<\/p>\n And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.<\/span><\/p>\n Ephesians 4:26-27<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The second “flavor of sharing burdens is between “unequal partners.”\u00a0 Your life is going along fine, but someone else’s\u00a0 has hit a major roadblock.\u00a0 You have a choice.\u00a0 Do you drop your smooth path and pick up the other person’s rough path?<\/p>\n Here’s one of the most familiar stories from the Bible, “The Parable of the Good Samaritan”…<\/p>\n The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.\u00a0 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.<\/span><\/p>\n “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.\u00a0 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.\u00a0 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’<\/span><\/p>\n “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”<\/span><\/p>\n Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”<\/span><\/p>\n Luke 10:29-37<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n The man dying on the side of the road and the “Good Samaritan were not teammates.\u00a0 They were not on equal footing as far as their situations were concerned.\u00a0 One was in terrible distress; the other was having a normal day, minding his own business.\u00a0 And yet, the Samaritan decided to share the burden.\u00a0 He decided to give up his happy day and join in with the other man’s bad day.<\/p>\n The other two men in the story (the priest and the temple assistant) made a different decision.\u00a0 Both of them were in a hurry, and coming near a beaten or dying man would make them unclean.\u00a0 Their time was more important than this unfortunate traveler.\u00a0<\/p>\n The story of the “Good Samaritan” is probably one of the most well-known stories in the Bible.\u00a0 But there’s a bigger, more important one.\u00a0 Another example of “Unequal Partners”…<\/p>\n .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .<\/span><\/p>\n Humanity was (and is) totally messed up.\u00a0 There’s something within us that makes us want to carry grudges instead of sharing burdens.\u00a0 Something drives us towards being selfish instead of being loving.\u00a0 Something keeps pushing us away from God.\u00a0 The Bible calls that something, “sin.”\u00a0 And just like the beaten man dying in the roadside, we’re unable to pick ourselves up.<\/p>\n But this “unequal partner”- Jesus-\u00a0 came along, dropped His “good day” and stooped down to share in our “bad day.”\u00a0 Here’s how Paul describes it…<\/p>\n When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.\u00a0 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.\u00a0 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.<\/span><\/p>\n Romans 5:6-9<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When you take a look at the history of humankind, you’ll see that we haven’t been very “kind” at all.\u00a0 From Genesis on, people keep choosing themselves and holding on to their “good days”, refusing to enter into someone’s suffering.\u00a0 Peter said that we humans are “like sheep who have gone astray<\/em>.” (1\u00a0Peter\u00a02:25<\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n Take a look at the book of Judges!\u00a0 People kept ignoring God and doing things their own way.\u00a0 Or… take a look at your own life.\u00a0 Have you ever ignored God???<\/p>\n If anyone had the right to carry a grudge, it was Jesus.\u00a0 And yet, He picked up our burden by dying on a cross.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Carry a Grudge, or Share a Burden.\u00a0 Ultimately, in each situation, it’s a choice we all have to make.\u00a0 Which path leads to a more fulfilling life?\u00a0 As noted at the beginning of this article, if Love is our ultimate purpose in life, then Grudges get in the way and pull us down.\u00a0 But Burdens lift us up and tie us closer to eachother and to God.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s another baseball story…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Signboard-2018-07-24-Burden-vs-Grudge-_IMG_2697-300x225.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nWhy Are We Here?<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Carrying a Grudge<\/span><\/h4>\n
Sharing a Burden<\/span><\/h4>\n
Equal Partners Uniting<\/span><\/h5>\n
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\u00a0<\/h5>\n
Someone Who’s Fine, Stepping in to Help Someone in Trouble<\/span><\/h5>\n
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It’s Your Choice<\/span><\/h3>\n