Galatians 6:1-10 Helping Each Other
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 25, 2020 Galatians 6:1-10
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
(Understanding the Text) I never realized before that this is just a continuation of the last part of Galatians 5. Paul has been talking about what it means to walk in the Spirit. He shows that walking in the flesh is to perform selfish actions that abuse our bodies, minds, and other people. He has a list of sins that are worldly desires, i.e. walking in the flesh rather than walking in the Spirit: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies. Worldly desires are desires for the world as opposed to desire for God. He contrasts these desires with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Thus, worldly desires are the fruit of walking in the flesh while these character qualities and attitudes are the result of walking in the Spirit.
Now, Paul speaks of what to do if a fellow Christian gets caught up in worldly desires instead of following the Spirit’s leading. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” Other Christians need to deal with him/her gently and lead him/her back to loving God and wanting to serve God. In other words, Paul strongly condemns the sins, but he has compassion on those who have gone off track and walked into sin instead of walking with the Spirit. “Falling off the wagon” doesn’t mean rejection; it means that your brothers and sisters support you as you learn to put God first. Then Paul says that each Galatian should continuously do self-evaluations to make sure that they are putting God first rather than the world. They should look to see if they are being Spirit-led or world-led. Next, Paul puts it all together by explaining the relationship that they should have with each other. They are to bear each other’s burdens. I’m not good at that.
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.” This is a continuation of the idea of self-evaluation and dealing with another’s sin gently. If we think that we are better than others, yet in reality we are prizing the world above Jesus, then we have nothing and are lying to ourselves. Thus, we need to evaluate where our priorities lie and whether we have the right attitude toward God and people. We need to test ourselves and if we are okay, we do not compare ourselves to others. Our salvation and righteousness is not based on how well we do compared to others. It is based on our own walk with the Spirit.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.” I don’t understand this. I need to look in other translations. “But let the one being taught in the Word share with the one teaching, in all good things” (LITV). I think it means that the student and the teacher should share their blessings with each other. I wonder if Paul is telling the Galatians to share their blessings with him? Paul has been saying to bear one another’s burdens and to gently restore a brother who has fallen into sin. Maybe, he is saying that if you are the recipient of help that you need to turn around and bless the ones that helped you in return so that it becomes a reciprocal relationship? Taken one step further: God wants us to share our joys with Him. Too often we only share our needs, but He wants our delight as well.
(Understanding the Text) “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Paul is saying that people cannot just live as they choose without repercussions. If we choose to place the world as our top priority, we will receive the consequences of that prioritization. If we choose to walk with the Spirit, we will receive the consequences of that decision. We usually focus on the negative. If you follow the world, you will be punished. However, in reality, this is also a promise. If you follow the Spirit, you will be transformed. The world only leads to death. That means that the Spirit only leads to life. We should keep our hope and faith because of this promise. We may fall; we may feel inadequate, but if we keep walking in the Spirit, we will walk right on into God’s presence and eternal life, just as Enoch did.
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Paul acknowledges that we may become tired in the process of doing good, but that we need to ignore that and keep on walking in the Spirit. Someday, the reward will come, so we must persevere and not grow discouraged. We need to look for opportunities to help others and when we see them, we need to keep doing them. We are not called to save the world. We are called to help those who live in our world. Paul says to especially look at our brothers and sisters in Christ to see if they need help.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to look for opportunities to do good with my brothers and sisters in Christ and then do it. I must not grow weary or impatient. I have to trust You. I pray to keep walking in the Spirit and be transformed and live.