Focal Passages: Galatians 6:1-10
As we live out God’s will for our lives through embodying the fruit of the Holy Spirit, God’s purpose expresses itself in how we relate to others, especially those who belong to the household of faith.
Restore and share burdens. It’s easy for us to point fingers, gossip and quietly revel in the moral failures of others. Southern Baptists are experts at this, unfortunately.
We might couch it in a concerning tone, or the ubiquitous phrase, “Bless his/her heart,” proceeding then to speak ill and stand indignant over others’ missteps.
Paul encourages us to resist this fleshly temptation to judge. Rather, we are called by God’s Word to seek restoration. The Spirit of the Lord is a gentle spirit. God could have responded to your sin and mine with wrath and eternal condemnation. Yet, He sent His Son to us, one “gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29 NKJV). Our Savior has dealt with us compassionately. He calls us to do likewise.
Moore
The “one who is spiritual” is one who expresses the likeness of Christ’s gentle and humble heart.
Remember your own shortcomings. Carry your own load given to you by the Lord while bearing up the burdens of those you see faltering in your congregation. Come to them with compassion and remind them of how God has healed your own failures in the past. We are in this together.
So often we see church members fall out of regular church attendance because of guilt, shame, hurt, anger and disillusionment. They were in need, and we did not lift them up at that time of crisis. Never stop investing in the proactive work of restoration. Seek ways to reconcile our inactive members to the church.
Reap the benefits of the spiritual life. As a pastor and teacher, it is easy to love verse 6. Without it sounding self-serving, let this author encourage each of you to share in the good things of learning God’s Word with those who teach you. Let your pastor and Sunday School teacher know how they have opened God’s Word to you with new insight. It will give them a shared blessing!
Verse 7 provides us with a solemn warning, however. As we delve deeper into Scripture, there is the danger of reading into God’s Word from the world around us. It is easy for us to pull passages out of context to mean whatever we would want them to mean, justifying a whole host of worldly thoughts and actions. This is a prevalent practice today.
Yet, Paul plainly cries, “God is not mocked!” His Word stands firm for all generations. If we live in the flesh and reflect the world in our lives, we sow destruction. However, the Words of the Spirit sow eternal life and blessing.
Never give up on the good work. Winston Churchill famously said during the dark days of World War II, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.”
The Apostle Paul more importantly calls believers to never grow tired of doing GOOD. Reaping God’s good blessings is assured. We simply must not give up. We express the purpose of God when we do good to others, sharing the compassion that Christ bestowed upon us, responding in gentleness and humility and sharing the timeless truths of God’s Word in love. B&R
