One of the hardest things for people to do now is to keep up their faith and to keep dealing with all the different issues that come from all sides. We may not be persecuted in the same ways that the early church was, but we do still have to deal with the things that come against our faith. There are some different passages that we could look at in the New Testament about keeping the faith and about persevering over the adversity we face, but today I want us to focus on what Paul tells the church in Galatia in Galatians 6. This whole letter is telling the people about how they should turn from living by the law and by they things of their past and turning to Jesus and his teachings for their life. Paul closes this letter in an interesting way by not continuing to call them foolish as he did in the beginning, but instead urging them to press on through all the troubles that they will deal with.
In Galatians 6:1-10, Paul puts the emphasis on bearing one another’s burdens. In the first verse, Paul says “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted (NKJV).” This is a key verse to what follows because of how we are to help one another. Notice that Paul does not say to berate or scold the one who is struggling, but to help him with gentleness and remember that you too could be tempted. Paul wants us to start by helping others so that their soul will be safe. He also wants us to keep track of ourselves because we can fall into temptation and sin just as easily as anyone else. Through the rest of this section, Paul emphasizes how when we bear one another’s burdens we fulfill the law of Christ. It is interesting that he uses that word law because of what the churches in Galatia were dealing with, namely Judaizing teachers. What they would have read when they saw this is that they would fulfill the Torah of Christ which shows how they need to rely on Jesus for all the things that they need.
Paul continues in this section to show them that they will reap what they sow. Paul wants them to help one another so that when they need help, there are people there to help them. We need to keep going in our faith because of what we will reap at the end. We need to keep sowing the seeds of the kingdom so that one day, the kingdom will be reaped. When one of our brothers or sisters are dealing with trouble, we should help them out so that they too can reap at the end. Since that is the goal, we should work together to encourage one another.
Paul’s final thing that he points to is that in Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new creation. We are the new creation of God and for that reason we should press on to the goal. When we feel down, we should help one another up. We are no longer the creation that we were when we were lost in sin, but now we are new and cleaned by the word of God.
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