Bear One Another's Burdens

Hello everyone, today I am going to be speaking from Galatians and mostly from Galatians 6 more specifically. Here, Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Galatians and makes three really powerful things in just the first 10 verses. As I was writing about them in my journal, I kind of had a lot to say so I apologize in advance if this post is a bit longer than normal.

The first point that Paul makes is that when we notice a fellow Christian struggling in sin, we "should restore him in a spirit of gentleness." This point and the next one kind of go hand in hand but I have a bit to say on each so I split them up. This concept of revealing sin in another person's life is a delicate business I think. It is something that I want to learn how to do this year and my discipler, Kyle, is going to help me with that. But, for the time being, I thought for a while on the matter and came to the following conclusions. In order to be able to point out sin in another person's life, you have to examine your own first. Matthew 7:3 says "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" I think this is probably the most important aspect of this. You cannot go to another person and try to rebuke them for a sin when you have one blatantly sticking out in your life. I'm not saying you have to be perfect or sinless to approach a person about their sin. I think the point that is being made is that you have to examine your motives. Are you pointing out sin in another person's life to make yourself feel better about yourself or are you doing it to help the other person draw closer to Christ? This is a key point in pointing out sin. Another important side note, you need to know the person pretty well, in my opinion at least, to point out sin in their life otherwise they won't take you seriously or you don't know the extent of the sin.

Once you figure out your motives, the next step is to approach them about the matter. Approach them directly, not through another person. Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." So, don't go tell Johnny that Jimmy is doing x y and z but go directly to Jimmy. When you approach the person, do so lovingly, making sure they understand your motives and that you both are broken people in desperate need of a savior. This experience will be different from person to person which is why it's important that you know the person you are talking to relatively well. Don't speak harshly to one another but with love. That's about all I have for advice in that matter. Remember though, my word is not perfect, I am broken as well and my advice should be taken with that in mind. Look into this yourself and determine how you think you should go about a situation like this.

Okay, this is going to be really long but bear with me because this stuff is good. The next point that Paul makes is to bear one another's burdens. This command stems from Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself. If we are executing that command to it's fullest, bearing one another's burdens should come naturally. We are to be Christ-like and bearing each other's burdens without a doubt part of that. Just look at Christ, he bore the ultimate burden, billions of people's sins. So, we should do the same and help people when they are in need. What does this look like? Simple, serve one another. Be there for one another. Be present in one another's lives. When someone comes to you for help, be quick to offer your hand in whatever way you can. I challenge you to think and answer this question at least once a day: "How can I serve [insert person's name] today?" Do that and see how your attitude changes. If you are feeling really ambitious, think that question for a person that you are not necessarily too fond of. I dare you. Do that. See what happens.

The final point that Paul makes in these first 10 verses that I want to highlight is that we reap what we sow. Yes, I'm aware that this a very common phrase and perhaps even over used but I think it has a lot of meaning in this context. Paul gives two contrasting examples of what you will reap depending on what you sow. The first is that of a man who sows his own flesh. This man will "reap corruption." Not exactly a very pleasant return on an investment if you ask me but hey, if you love corruption, sowing the flesh might be for you. But, if you're like me and would rather "reap eternal life", you should sow from the Spirit. While this sowing will be much harder than sowing from his flesh, the reward is infinitely more great. You should really read verses 6-10 because they are too good to summarize. If we are sowing from the Spirit, "let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap". What this is saying is to always sow with perseverance in our hearts. Do not give up because you will get your reward of eternal life. While we are waiting around for what we sow to become what we reap, do good. I can't put it much simpler than that. Don't be lazy and just wait but go out and do some good things with the time that you have. You have been blessed with time here on earth so use it to your advantage. Make the ground more fertile so we can rejoice when we get to heaven and see more faces there because we didn't waste our time here. Sorry for the length but I hope you enjoyed it!

God Bless and Go Blue!
Tedd Sheets Jr.

The Heart Behind It

Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and I apologize for that if you like reading what I have to say. But, I realized I missed blogging and am going to try and post every or every other week while here at school. This post is going to be based off an article I read last night that made me think a lot and I really enjoyed it. It was from relevant magazine and I'll give you the link. Here you go: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/why-don%E2%80%99t-we-evangelize-anymore. It's a great read and I would recommend it. While it has a great message I want to focus on a smaller part of it based on this quote:

"The thing is, God’s not after our efforts or initiatives. He’s not after the good words and the good deeds. He’s after our hearts. He wants our hearts to beat for the people who have never heard a word from the Bible. He wants our hearts to be filled with love and longing for the people we see on the street. He wants our hearts to break for the young adults that decide to leave the church they grew up in. Because that’s what His heart does. That’s where it all has to start."

While this article is focusing on evangelism, I wanted to go a bit broader with this concept. You see, God doesn't just want our heart in evangelism, He wants our hearts in everything we do. The actions don't matter as much as the heart because the heart is at the root of who you are, what you believe, and what you do. If you have the type of heart God desires, the actions will follow. James 2:18-26 relates to this very well saying things like "I will show you my faith by my works", "You see that faith was active along with works, and faith is completed by his works", and "so also faith apart from works is dead". So, have the heart and the actions will follow. If you have this heart, how could you do anything else than try and bring in God's kingdom?

On the flip side of that coin, we shouldn't be trying to justify ourselves through our actions. This is something I, and I'm sure many of you, can relate to. In Galatians, Paul is talking to people who have been saved but are now trying to "earn" their salvation through their works. Galatians 3:11 "Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law for The righteous shall live by faith." Your "job" as a Christian is not to do good things and avoid bad things, your "job" is to love and trust God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Doing this will lead to a transformation, either for the first time or for the tenth time, of your actions to honor God and bring in his kingdom. That's the end goal isn't it?

I'll give you a quick look into my life at the moment before I wrap this up. This topic is something that I have been faced with this summer through now and am still working through. I have realized that I don't really have God's heart for a lot of things, people being the most obvious one. My heart doesn't cry out for those that are lost usually but I've seen some change in that recently so that's good. When I do what I do, whether good or bad, I've had to examine my motives. I'm not sure if I do what I do because of a love of God, or if I do it for a more legalistic reason. I want to say it's because I love God but I can't say that that is the case all of the time. It's something I have been working through. If you want to know more, feel free to e-mail me or text me or whatever and I would be more than willing to talk further. For now, I challenge you to examine your heart and figure out if it is in line with God's. If not, pray about it. Not once, but daily until you see God transform that in you, that's what he's doing in me.

God Bless and Go Blue!
Tedd Sheets Jr.