PONDER THIS

Growing up, one of the things I loved to do with my brother was collect coconuts to sell. We learned how to climb coconut trees like monkeys to reach the leaves. One day, I was up in a tall coconut tree. I had my left arm around a palm frond, and my right hand was disconnecting a coconut when that palm frond broke. I did not look closely enough to see that it was a dying frond. When it broke, I fell about thirty feet. I fell on the grass, but my left arm fell on the sidewalk. As you can imagine, it was a bad situation.

As I was lying there, having fallen because of my own carelessness, what did I need from my brother? I didn’t need a lecture. I didn’t need my brother to ignore me and walk away. I didn’t need my brother to go around and say, “Did you hear about Adrian? He fell out of a coconut tree.” I had that arm in a sling for a while, and it healed just a little crooked. But I can use it because I got what I needed—somebody to realize that I’d fallen. I needed somebody to come and help me. What do we do with broken brothers and sisters in Christ? We help restore them in the name of Jesus.

• How are you tempted to react when you hear about another person’s struggle?
• How has someone cared for you when you felt like you had fallen far from God?

PRACTICE THIS

Extend love and restoration to someone in your community who has been rejected.

Burdens | Part 1

Galatians 6:1-3

In this message from Galatians 6, Adrian Rogers shares three kinds of burdens, and how Scripture instructs us to deal with each type.

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Cast Your Burdens on God

It just may be that God has given you a burden because He can’t get your attention.

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