Flying Buttresses from God

 

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

—Galatians 6:2

In a time of collapse, we would do well to have someone on whom to lean. We see this principle at work in the flying buttresses of Gothic Cathedrals. According to Wikipedia:

“… the purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards…” which occurs with the load of heavy stone and glass in the walls of the largest buildings. “Another application of the flying buttress is to prop up a leaning wall in danger of collapse.”

The Apostle Paul was such a “flying buttress,” providing support to the early churches, which he and other apostles founded in the first century. He not only traveled to stay with these young congregations, in order to encourage and help them, but he wrote long letters of instruction to them, so that they would not fail.

In helping to carry the load of these new churches, the Apostle Paul experienced endangering situations, such as shipwrecks, starvation, health problems, beatings, imprisonments, riots, and sleepless nights. In order for his ministry to continue, he knew that, for himslef and his ministry, he needed the buttressing of fellow servants of Christ. He relied on Titus and Timothy, John Mark, and Luke, as well as lesser-known men, such as Tychicus, Epaphroditus, and women, such as Nympha and Priscilla.

The Apostle Paul speaks of the Church as the “Body of Christ,” in which each member belongs to each other member, in order to complete the whole. He admonished the Church in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up.

This theme occurs often in Paul’s writings. He knew how hard life can become and what spiritual warfare these young Christians would face.

In our present age, we may have days when we don’t feel we can go a step further. Weariness, sickness, emotional pain—along with a too-long waiting for God to answer our prayers—can beat upon us like heavy wind and rain beats on a cathedral in a violent storm. In prayer, we must ask God to supply the buttressing support for us, so that we can keep from collapsing.

God has already prepared a group of fellow Christians to buttress us during our difficult days. When the time of hardship ends, we should seek to have the same grateful spirit that Paul did, when he wrote to Philemon in verse 7:

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.