Supporting one another
Day 624, Monday, April 27
Galatians 6:1-18
Paul ends Galatians with a picture of what the Christian community can and should be. It is a picture of believers who are at once self-sufficient and supporting; taking responsibility for themselves while also lifting one another up.
Chapter 6 begins with, “My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way….Help carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ.”
Just a couple of verses later, he continues, “You should each judge your own conduct. If it is good, then you can be proud of what you yourself have done, without having to compare it with what someone else has done. For each of you must carry your own load.”
These can sound contradictory. Are we to support one another or carry our own weight?
Support within the community is based here on giving rather than receiving. Paul encourages us to judge ourselves and lift up others, not to lift up ourselves and judge others.
He doesn’t tell us to ignore the wrongdoing of others, but he presents that as an opportunity for gentle restoration, not harsh criticism.
Proverbs 25:12 tells us, “A warning given by an experienced person to someone willing to listen is more valuable than gold rings or jewelry made of the finest gold.” That is what the Christian community should look like—giving and receiving lessons learned in love.
Verse 7 cautions that we will reap what we sow. “If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death; if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will have the harvest of eternal life.”
-Rev. Mark Fleming
Monday meditation
Psalms 118:10-21
Many enemies were around me; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord! They were around me on every side; but I destroyed them by the power of the Lord! They swarmed around me like bees, but they burned out as quickly as a brush fire; by the power of the Lord I destroyed them. I was fiercely attacked and was being defeated, but the Lord helped me. The Lord makes me powerful and strong; he has saved me.
Listen to the glad shouts of victory in the tents of God’s people: “The Lord’s mighty power has done it! His power has brought us victory—his mighty power in battle!”
I will not die; instead, I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done. He has punished me severely, but he has not let me die.
Open to me the gates of the Temple; I will go in and give thanks to the Lord!
This is the gate of the Lord; only the righteous can come in.
I praise you, Lord, because you heard me, because you have given me victory.
Prayer focus
Make me powerful and strong so that I may lift your people up.