IronGuys Law Enforcement Ministries
"WORDS OF WISDOM"
By Police Chaplains
“Bear One Another’s Burdens”
By
Dave Yard
Longtime Oklahoma Supporter of the Law Enforcement Community
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 KJV
It is a strange thing indeed that a man may stand before the broken arches of an ancient cathedral and whisper in reverence, yet pass by a broken soul with scarcely a glance. We photograph crumbling stone, preserve weathered beams, and marvel at shattered stained glass because we sense that something holy once dwelt there. But Scripture teaches that something far holier dwells in man himself. The human soul was not designed by architects, but by God.
A ruined church stirs our pity because we imagine its former glory. Yet every bitter, fallen, addicted, lonely, or wandering person carries a greater tragedy and a greater possibility. For man was made in the image of God. The wreckage of a human life is not merely the collapse of behavior; it is the vandalism of a temple.
The world has learned to admire ruins from a distance while avoiding ruined people up close. Stones do not ask anything of us. Broken people do. A shattered building requires restoration funds; a shattered man may require patience, forgiveness, inconvenience, and love. That is why Christ did not merely weep over Jerusalem’s temple. He came seeking lost sheep, publicans, harlots, thieves, and failures. He saw buried glory beneath the rubble.
One of the great Christian truths is that grace specializes in restoration. Satan delights in ruins; God delights in rebuilding. The enemy points at what man has become. Christ points at what man was meant to be. We often see only the ashes; God sees the possibility of resurrection.