DAY 16: Lean On Me

Charlie Brown was pitching and doing a lousy job. Lucy was giving him grief, as usual. Finally, he could bear the misery and humiliation no longer. In an expression of exasperation he stood on his head right there on the pitcher's mound.

As Lucy's degrading mockery continued, the ever-loyal Snoopy did the unexpected. He walked onto the pitcher's mound and stood on his head beside Charlie Brown, sharing his humiliation.

The Bible says, "Weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15) and "Bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2). We're not merely to carry burdens for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we're to carry them away. It involves sharing and removing a load.


Actually, two words are used for "bearing" in the New Testament. One word could be construed to mean standing beside a brother or sister in times of need to strengthen and comfort. The other, however, means something entirely different.

The first one, anechomai, means "to sustain, bear or hold up against a thing,"  much as a person would tie a stake to a tomato plant to sustain it from the weight it carries. The strength of the stake is transferred to the plant and thus "bears it up." When the Lord commands us to bear with one another in Col. 3:13 and Ephes. 4:2, He isn't simply saying, "Put up with one another."

Although He is telling us to do that, He is also saying, "Stake yourselves to one another." In other words, we're to come alongside a weak brother or sister who is "weighted down" and say, "You're not going to fall and be broken or destroyed because I'm staking myself to you. My strength is now yours. Go ahead, lean on me. As long as I can stand, you will."

What a wonderful picture for the Body of Christ. Fruit will result.
Jackie Robinson was the first black to play major league baseball. While breaking baseball's color barrier, he faced jeering crowds in every stadium. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error. His own fans began to ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then shortstop "Pee Wee" Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd.

The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said that arm around his shoulder saved his career.

Sometimes the world is more biblical than we are!

Shalom,

Rev. Obadiah Swen

Pastor, BWOC-VA