Galatians 6:1-10
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
WOW! There is so much in these 10 verses that one could take years to glean everything from them. They are so packed with good information it's hard to figure out where to begin. Let's see where the Spirit leads.
Verse 1 is the game plan for each Christian here on earth. Notice what isn't included in that verse. Do you see what's missing? What's missing is judgment, anger, condemnation, guilt, shame and chastisement. Why do you think they are missing? Is it because those are not the qualities of one who walks in the Spirit? I would bet that they are missing for that exact purpose. The Spirit is always gentle and humble with us. He never overpowers us or makes us do thing we don't want to do. He is a complete gentleman.
Verse 2 should be enough to let people know that is why it is not right for anyone to be a Lone Ranger Christian. You cannot successfully walk the walk God has for you by yourself. This is one reason why I am so glad I am married to a Godly woman. We can share each other's burdens and cares. This is also why I am in a men's discipleship group. I love my wife with all my heart but she does not know what it is like to be a man. Meeting with other men and sharing what God is doing in our lives and sharing each other's burdens is very helpful. The devil would want us to believe that what we are experiencing or struggling with is an isolated incident. We are the only ones going through that and no one would understand. Once you start sharing what you're going through you realize that other men have not only been through that or they may be currently going through it. If they have been through it they can share their testimony of what God did to help them through. That is why it is important to be involved in a discipleship group and to attend church on a regular basis. Not going to church regularly so you can get fed spiritual food and have fellowship with other Christians is like a starving man who needs food but won't go to the restaurant because he doesn't like being around other people. He will build up the courage to do it once or twice a year but that is enough for him. He would rather starve himself to death than to be around others. That's as best as I can put it.
Verse 3 is a real wake up call to each of us. Even though we may have experienced a lot of things in our lives and watched God do many miracles through us, we are not to think more highly of ourselves. If we do then we don't think we need to help just anyone. We may think we only need to get involved in the extra special cases. In God's eyes we all have the same value. He would have sent His Son to die for each and every one of us, even if we were the only ones around. Don't fall into the devil's trap of thinking to highly of yourself. That is a road that leads to destruction. Proverbs 18:12 explains it better than I can:
12 Haughtiness goes before destruction;
humility precedes honor.
Verse 4 is another real key for each of us. I don't know how many times I have to tell my children to worry about themselves and not what the other one is doing. It must be our sinful nature to worry about what others are doing. This is what got Cain in trouble. After Cain's offering was not accepted by God this is what God said to Cain:
Genesis 4:6-7
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
"You will be accepted if you do what is right." That is awfully familiar with verse 4 in Galatians 6. If we would all learn to be more concerned with our own work, what we are doing and what God told us to do, then we will get the satisfaction of a job well done. We won't need to even worry about what someone else is doing because we know that we did what God told us to do.
Verse 5 ties up that thought with letting us know that we each need to be responsible for our own conduct. When I stand in front of the Lord I do not have to give an account for every actions my wife did or anything she said. I have to give an explanation for myself, my actions and words. No one else can give testimony for me because it is my responsibility to be accountable for what the Word tells me to do and say, what the Spirit tells me to do an say and how I listened, or didn't listen, to what I know to be the direction of the Lord for me, Erik Lee Vakula, and not for anyone else. Praise God! It's hard enough to make sure I'm doing what I need to, let alone to worry about what everyone else might be doing or saying.
Verse 6 is an excellent encouragement for us to make sure we take care of our teachers in the faith. We need to make sure our pastors know how much we care for them and find ways to bless them for the time and effort they put into bringing us the Word God has for the body of believers we are tied to. I encourage you to find ways to reach out to them and show them how grateful you are to them. Bless them with gift certificates to their favorite coffee shop or restaurant, offer to watch their kids so they can have a date night with their spouse, buy a gift certificate for massage or facial at their favorite spa, etc. Ask God for a way that you can show them you care and then do it. Don't argue with God about it, don't worry about how much He asks you to spend, JUST DO IT!
Verse 7 is where the rubber of the first 6 verses meets the road. "You will always harvest what you plant." That is a great analogy for me to understand. I grew up on a farm and I know that when my dad bought corn seed and put it in the ground that corn was going to grow. I didn't have to pray that corn came up instead of beans or oats. I knew that if he planted corn, corn would grow and some day we would harvest that corn. What I didn't know until a couple of years ago was just what kind of return he got for the seed sown. When he put in one kernel of corn to be sown it would grow into an eight foot high corn plant. That corn plant would produce one ear of corn, typically. That one ear of corn can have around 600 kernels on it. That is what I call a harvest of seed sown. I have heard it preached many times that the natural world cannot do what is impossible in the spiritual world. If that's the case, I will start to claim a 600 fold return on the seeds I sow into the Kingdom.
What I also found interesting in verse 7 was when I started to look at other translations. I typically use the New Living Translation for the scriptues I post. I will indicate if it is other than that source. Here are some of the other versions I found interesting.
Galatians 6:7 (MSG)
Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest.
Galatians 6:7 (AMP)
Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.
Galatians 6:7 (CEV)
You cannot fool God, so don't make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant.
Galatians 6:7 (Phillips)
Don't be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man's harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows.
The last one really puts it into perspective. Our harvest in life, both this physical life and our eternal life, depends ENTIRELY on what we sow, both in the physical life and in the spiritual life. That is great news if you sow the right stuff. Bad news if you don't.
Verse 8 shows us again how this applies. If we sow to please our sinful nature then we harvest decay and death. If we sow what the Spirit tells us to sow then we will harvest everlasting life! PRAISE GOD!
Verse 9 is an encouragement to us to not give up. Keep going. Fight through. If my dad planted the seed then sat around and moped because the next day it wasn't ready to harvest, he would go insane. Corn usually would be planted in April or May and harvested in October. I think with the society we live in today we are so accustomed to instant gratification that any time to wait just causes our flesh pain. The Word does not tell us that the fruit of what we sow or the harvest of what we sow is going to be an instant one. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it is not. The latter part of verse 9 tells us when we will reap our harvest, "At just the right time". This is better understood as God's time. James 1:2-4 really puts this into perspective for us.
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
The reason why I think this is so appropriate is because it's the troubles that cause us to abandon our harvest before it is ready. When my dad plants his corn and he starts to see the weeds come in he doesn't run around crying and wondering what's going to happen. At the right time he puts the cultivator on the tractor and goes into the field and digs up the weeds. He does this at least twice before the plants get too tall. He also applies some chemicals to kill the weeds, prior to any formation of corn that grows later. The corn that is harvested shows up well past any of his intervention with the weeds. He knows that if he doesn't knock out the weeds at the right time that they can reduce his harvest. We are to be as diligent with what we sow. We we sow the Word into people we need to make sure that if weeds show up that we get them out as soon as possible to the Word will work the harvest intended.
Verse 10 is a great way to finish up this note. "Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone - especially those in the family of faith." That is a great encouragement for us today. I recently purchased an enclosed trailer. I have been believing for the finances for over a year. Last year we purchased a riding lawn mower from one of my wife's cousins. We did not need a riding lawn mower for our yard, but are believing for a bigger yard in our new house. I used it to help some neighbors mow their yards and had a desire to help out the elderly at my church with their yards. I had no way to get my lawn mower around so I started believing for a trailer. I now have my trailer and this summer I will be going around once a week to mow the yards for those senior citizens of my church who can't do it for themselves. This is my way of implementing verse 10 with the blessings of what God has given to me. My encouragement to you today is what is that you have or do that could be a blessing to someone else. Do good to everyone when you have the opportunity. Amen.
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
Published by Erik L. Vakula
Daily Bread From the Word
Copyright © 2009 Erik Vakula, All Rights Reserved
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