“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

(Galatians 6:2)

The traffic safety poster caught my eye as I drove down the street. It fairly shouted at me its catchy slogan: “Don’t rely on the other guy.” I began to ponder what this meant for me as an automobile driver: “Don’t take foolish chances,” it seemed to say to me. “Don’t rely on the other guy to pull you out of a tight spot or a close squeeze. You be in a position to take care of yourself and the other fellow, too. Don’t rely on the other guy.”

Now this is a pretty good philosophy for truck drivers and wary motorists at this stage of the game in automotive development, and, of course, that is all it is intended for by our traffic safety council. But there are some folks who try to make this slogan, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, the basis of their whole philosophy of life: “Don’t rely on the other guy.” They aim to be self-reliant and independent and they expect the other fellow to do the same.

In St. Paul’s Galatian letter we find two seemingly contradictory statements just a couple of verses apart. “Let every man bear his own burden,” counsels the great apostle, and then, almost in the same breath, he advises: “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Now what does Paul mean by this? Is he advocating rugged individualism and close-knit collectivism simultaneously? Has Paul lost all sense of logic and the meaning of terms?

No, this great theologian and practical thinker on Christianity is setting out for us in these two seemingly contradictory admonitions the double demand of the Christian life: On the one hand to be just as self-reliant, independent, industrious and capable as it is possible for each one of us to be in the light of our God-given talents; and on the other hand, never to forget the law of Christ, to be sympathetic, helpful, understanding with one’s fellows; helping others bear their heavy burdens and recognizing constantly the interdependence of our human life.

St. Paul would remind us that every day and every hour we must help and be helped: that we must rely on the other guy and have him rely upon us. None of us must be too selfish to help nor too proud to be helped, for God has made us all to lean on one another. He has so ordered the world that, in some things, even the weakest may help the strongest. And it is a foolish and false philosophy of life which proceeds from the slogan: “Don’t rely on the other guy.”

For the fact is, we do rely on the other guy whether we like to admit it or not. Suppose your child needs a surgical operation. Now you may pride yourself upon taking care of your own household — upon being independent and self-reliant, not asking any favors of anyone, but you must rely on the other guy to do for your precious child what needs to be done, but which you by yourself could not do … ever. So you call for one who has proven himself in his profession worthy of your confidence and you rely upon him to perform that operation for your child. The proudest, most self-sufficient of us learns that there are times when we must rely on some other guy to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Recently a friend was telling me of his experiences with early morning insomnia. Away from home, staying in the heart of a city, he would wake up about four or five o’clock every morning. From his window he could look out and see in the early morning light the people moving about on the street at that time of day: the milk man, delivering, in a run to each doorstep, that family’s daily supply of milk, the paper boy, dawdling along, peddling his papers, men and women coming out of their homes to go to their posts of duty and responsibility in the dawning hours. And my friend said to me that these early morning vigils made him think, with a new sense of thankfulness, of how much there is back of our common life, unseen, unthought of; all the effort, all the loyalty, all the fidelity of little people whom we do rely upon to perform all those silent, unseen services which make our common life tolerable.

Have you never been impressed with how much of the happiness which crowns our lives comes from the unexpected nobleness and undeserved thoughtfulness of ordinary people who make us the recipients of their love and goodness? Yet for the beauty and the joy of life we rely so heavily upon them.

Last week in Caswell County, I visited a fine old gentleman who has been practically an invalid for several months. He is a giant of a man, but as he says now: “His legs has just give out on him.” There is nothing he can do but just sit. Day after day I drove past and saw the old gentleman sitting alone at the crossroads, looking rather sad and solitary. And then one day the old gentleman told me of how each morning the mail carrier who rides that route comes by, picks him up, and drives him in his automobile across the countryside to see his friends and neighbors’ farms to give him a change of scenery, break the monotony of his day, and keep him in touch with life. Little though we may realize it, how much we do rely upon the sympathetic imagination, thoughtfulness and kindness of other people to crown our life with joy and beauty.

A profession of the Christian faith is really nothing more nor less than a frank, humble acknowledgement of just how much we rely upon that Great One other than ourselves. It is just a repudiation of the proud and foolish philosophy that boasts self-sufficiently: “I don’t rely on the other guy”, and a confession of complete reliance upon Almighty God for all things. That, basically, is all there is to the Christian faith.

The worldling, the unbeliever, stands over against life and says: “Trust me to handle this.” The Christian says: “In God I trust.” The strictly self-reliant man boasts: “I am the captain of my soul, I am the master of my fate”, while the Christian confesses:

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand.

And when some catastrophe like a polio epidemic comes which strains to the breaking point man’s ingenuity; when the most we know and the best we can do is not enough, and from the human point of view we feel like we are fighting a ghost in the dark, then how pitifully pathetic, in his fear and anxiety, is the strictly self-reliant man who has nothing but the little mite of human strength and wisdom and goodness to rely upon for his children’s protection, while the Christian is poised and calm, knowing that his children, in polio epidemic or out of it, are where they always are — in God’s hands.

Yes, the fact is, whether we like to admit it or not, whether we realize it or not, we do rely on the other guy, and the fellow who recognizes this fact is a lot more loveable, happy, and serene than the fellow who doesn’t.

And this fact of life has a twin which is this: We need to have the other guy rely on us. Yes, not only do we need to rely on others, we need to have others rely on us … “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” said St. Paul, “and so fulfill the law of Christ.” It is a universal law of human life, as Dr. Ralph Sockman has so skillfully pointed out, that one of our deepest human needs is the need to feel that the other fellow is needing us.

We’ve all heard older people say with a sigh — as they looked back across the years and summed up the meaning of life: “Yes, but the happiest years of all were when our children were young.” How can they say that? The happiest time, the best years, when the children are young, demanding attention night and day, a constant care? How can they truthfully say those were the best years of all? Why, that’s when the children most need their parents, when they rely most heavily upon them. Deep down inside man there is this longing, thirsting, hungering need of his nature, to feel that he is needed — to know that there are those who rely upon him. And when man feels this, knows it — he is happiest of all.

Moses discovered this so dramatically there in the desert when he appealed to his brother-in-law, Hobab, to go as a guide for him and his people through the uncharted wilderness. “Go with us, Hobab,” said Moses, “and we will do thee good.” “No,” said Hobab, “I will not go.” “But Hobab,” pled Moses, “we are going to a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, a promised land which God will give to us. If you go with us you shall share in our inheritance. Rich will be your reward. Go with us, Hobab, and we will do thee good.” “No,” said Hobab, “I will not go.”

Then Moses tried a different approach: “Hobab,” he said, “Go with us and be for us eyes in the desert. You and you alone know the unmarked trails through this wilderness. I need you, Hobab, and all these people need you.” And Hobab went. He could refuse the promise and prospect of personal reward, but deep down the well-springs of his soul something answered in instant response when Hobab felt he was needed.

Yes, this is a fact of life — no one of us has any greater need than the need to feel we are needed.

Emergencies impress this upon us. Just observe what has been taking place in our own city this past week. The mounting number of polio victims struck terror in the heart of everyone. Anxiety, fear, dread, stalked abroad. Then word came that funds were needed in this emergency to build a convalescent home for polio patients in Guilford County. The people’s response has been overwhelming. The Junior Chamber of Commerce has staged one of the most unique, intelligent, imaginative, and amazing fund-raising campaigns the country has ever seen. Everybody has responded. Everyone has done his bit, from the shoeshine boy who put in all his pennies earned through a full day’s work, to the business executive who mailed in his generous check.

And what has happened — besides raising a lot of money? One of the most important things that’s happened is that we’ve all found some measure of salvation from worry, fear, and anxiety through doing our bit to help meet a great need. We’ve found peace and calm and assurance in knowing that we, too, were needed in this fight against polio — and that we have not failed.

How deep this need lies, even in the most perverted forms of human nature — this need to feel we are needed. History records that, when the worst yellow fever epidemic struck Memphis, Tennessee, and of the city’s 10,000 population, 6,000 were fatally struck down by the plague, an infamous woman in that roaring Mississippi River port, the Madame who operated the luxurious house of prostitution, turned out her girls and took in the yellow fever patients and tenderly nursed them. Some Christian women from Louisville, Kentucky, hearing of her heroism, wrote a letter of commendation. Shortly afterward, this American Magdalene herself fell victim of the mysterious plague. Oh, how the best of us, and the worst of us, need to feel that we are needed — God has made us that way.

And so we ought to know that we shall find our salvation, our comfort, our calm and courage in disaster or catastrophe, by relying in steadfast faith upon the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by putting ourselves in those places of service where we can know that others are relying upon us to be true and play the man.

Too bad we don’t realize this truth every day we live, and live by it, rather than having to be shaken out of our selfish complacency and proud self-sufficiency by dire emergencies, which we individually are unable to handle alone. When shall we build the kind of a world God intends our world to be? Why, when we recognize continually this great truth of our interdependency, this mutuality — this togetherness of our lives, and begin to live as St. Paul said: “Members one of another.”

“Rely on the other guy?” Why, yes. And let him rely on you. “Let every man bear his own burden, but also: Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

PASTORAL PRAYER

Eternal Father, strong to save, hear Thy people when they cry to Thee. Bless the sick and suffering. We commend to Thy mercy and special care the victims of polio. Speed the research of scientists and physicians who work night and day to solve the mystery of this plague’s spread — to trap and imprison this killer and crippler of Thy children.

Thanksgiving we offer to Thee, O God, for all the unselfish and courageous souls who have worked shoulder to shoulder in this emergency: the doctors and nurses, the civilian committees, the young men of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the generous people who have opened their hearts and their purses.

Speak to our hearts, O Father, when men faint for fear, and there is disaster and trouble abroad. Keep us steadfast and resolute in faith, putting our trust in those things that cannot be shaken. May we do all we can for the relief of human suffering and to stem the tide of destruction, and then having done all to stand steadfast in faith. Take away fear and anxiety from our hearts. Help us to think of ourselves and our families as always in Thy merciful keeping. We sometimes proudly think of ourselves as taking care of our loved ones, day by day, and so we do — in a measure — by Thy grace. But when all is said and done we know in our heart of hearts that Thou art the one who takest care of us and ours. That in what we call days of danger, as well as in other days, we and ours are always in Thy hands. We trust ourselves to Thy love and care. We rely upon Thy merciful salvations always, in the times of danger which we see, and all those unknown, uncounted dangers Thou savest us from and which we never know.

For the hosts of the Lord are encamped round about him that trusteth in Thee. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Therefore, shall we not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday, for Thou, O Lord, art our refuge and our fortress, Our God, in whom we will trust, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Scripture Reference: Galatians 6:1-10 • Secondary Scripture References: n/a • Subject : Our need to be needed; Interdependency; Bearing others burdens; 608 • Special Topic: n/a • Series: n/a • Occasion: Polio Epidemic • First Preached: 7/18/1948 • Last Preached: 7/18/1948 • Rating: 3 • Book/Author References: , Dr. Ralph Sockman