Doing Good to All
Galatians 6:1-5: Doing Good to All
1. Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5. for each one should carry their own load.
In a world of social media and constant online presence, it is easy to compare ourselves to others. Often, we feel we are falling short of the perfection we see on our screens - people who "have it all together" and who seem to be accomplishing everything that we have not. But as the famous quote says, "comparison is the thief of joy." We are not meant to compare ourselves to those around us - our paths are not the same and our we will never achieve our ultimate goals by following someone else's path.
So how do we correct our course? As the Word says in verse one, we should restore ourselves and each other GENTLY. If we approach one another out of anger or annoyance, it may not be received well, AND we should be extending that same courtesy to ourselves. A good community is a major part of that - we are not meant to do life alone, and we are meant to help one another carry our burdens. These two verses go hand in hand - we are meant to correct gently and help carry burdens; but again, the emphasis is on correction. We should not be accepting of all actions; we should have a standard that we hold ourselves and each other to. However, we are human and we will fail. We should always strive to hit the ultimate mark and to be as close to the perfect ways of Jesus as possible - but again, we are human and we will fail. That failure requires us to have grace so that we are restored in God.
The passage continues to remind us to be humble; that if we believe we are something (without God) we are nothing. In verse 4 it goes on to say that "each one should test their own actions." This speaks to how we will all have to stand alone before God and answer for our own actions. We cannot blame or fault someone else because as verse 5 says, we are to carry our own loads.
So what now? CHECK YOURSELF.
Are you living by the Spirt or by your own flesh?
Are you a part of a Godly community that will help restore you and carry your burdens? Or are you part of a secular community that will stamp your bad actions and leave you to die?
Are you thinking of yourself too pridefully? Or are you humbled before the Lord?
Are you constantly examining yourself, your heart, your life to make sure it lines up with the Word of God? Or are you comparing yourself to others?
Are you carrying your load?
Lord, thank you for another day and another opportunity to grow closer to you. Thank you for your grace and mercy, for your love and your comfort, for your compassion and your salvation. We pray that you help us examine our hearts and help us to let go of anything that does not serve you. Help us to keep our eyes focused on you, not on those around us. Bring good, Godly helpers into our path and weed out negative friends and influences. Thank you for everything. I love you.
