| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 19 |
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There are three Bible words about the bearing of burdens. One tells us; that “every person shall bear their own burden.” There are burdens which no one can carry for us, not even Christ, and which no one can share with us; we must carry them ourselves alone. This is true in a very real sense of life itself, of duty, of personal responsibility. No one can live your life for you. Friends may help you by encouragement, by sympathy, by cheer, by affection’s warm inspirations, by counsel, by guidance; but after all, in the innermost meaning of your life, you must live it yourself. No one can make your choices for you; you must make them for yourself. No one can have faith in God for you. No one can believe in Christ for you. No one can meet the obligations of the moral law for you. No one but yourself can get your sins forgiven. No one can do your duty for you. No one can meet your responsibility for you. A thousand other people all about you may be faithful to their trust; but, if you fail in faithfulness, their faithfulness will not be any avail to you. There is no vicariousness of this kind in life. You must live your own life.
No one can come up in loving interest and unselfishly take your load and carry it for you. A friend may be willing enough to do it, but it is simply impossible. David would have died for Absalom; he loved his erring son well enough to do it, but he could not do it. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Many a mother would willingly take her child’s burden of pain as she sees it in anguish, but she cannot do it. There is a burden, which every one must carry for themselves.
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