Are You Invoiced?

By Tawna Wilkinson

Putt-sing around my house a few months ago, I was wrestling with a dogging question: Should I or should I not help an individual with a genuine need, which in this case happens to be close to me? When I heard: “Bear one another’s burdens…” And…“for each one shall bear his own load.” (Galatians 6.2, 5)
 

A familiar frustration rose in my spirit, for in times past I had grappled, without resolution, with these exact phrases and specific words.

“Lord,” I said. “In one breath You command us to bear another’s burden, and in the next You seem to contradict commanding the exact opposite. I don’t know what to do or how to be.”

“I know,” He replied. “Look into it.”

So I dropped what I was involved with, went to my Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, and looked up the words and phrases I felt Him emphasize.

To my chagrin, in both instances, the definition of bear was exactly what I thought: “to remove, lift, endure, sustain, receive, etc.” However, I was surprised to find where its meaning was derived….from the base of the Greek word basis which means “to walk; a pace (‘base’) i.e. (by implication) the foot.”

Immediately a picture came of two people walking side by side, one was carrying a large burden while the other, walking in pace, was helping alleviate some of its weight, but was not taking the burden from them.

Intrigued, I dove into the definition of load, and was even more startled at its meaning: “an invoice (as part of freight) i.e. (fig.) a task or service.”

“Wow, Lord…an invoice?”

“Yes, an invoice. I assign to each an invoice; a task; a service to join with Me. If I have not invoiced you to walk side by side with another, yet you choose to, you are in fact sabotaging their relational footing with Me. And, by carrying all, or some, of another’s burden I did not invoice harms our walk as well. Be watchful, child. Do not disrupt your, or another’s, relationship with Me by carrying what has not been invoiced you.”

Sweet release washed over me shedding light on my present situation, as well as evaporating that unresolved and dogging question. For I had many times, out of guilt, shame, or condemnation, whether self-inflicted or imposed by others, helped carry, or carried all of another’s burden never invoiced me. And the results were damaging to the cadence of each relationship.

So, when another’s need arises, I am now inclined to stop and ask, “Have you invoiced me to come along side, Holy Spirit? Or is this theirs to join with You, alone?