Galatians 6: Those Who Care Share

Galatians 6

"Let him who is taught the word share (koinonia) in all good things with him who teaches." 6:6 

I love this verse. It is the perfect picture of life discipleship. It is life on mission. Most of what I teach my children comes by actually doing things with them. To teach my girls how to cook eggs or pancakes, I have them by my side while I am cooking. In order for Ethan to learn how to clean the bathroom correctly,  I have him with me and show him the expected way to do it. But as I spend that time with them and see the fruit of my labor like fried eggs, pancakes or a sparkling clean bathroom, they share in that goodness. We experience fellowship together and they are learning in the process. They share in my joy of a job well done. 

As I am taught, I also share in the life of the one who teaches me. As Matt and I serve alongside Pastor Jim and Patti, we are learning so much. As they teach and instruct us, and as we put into practice what we observe from them and they teach us, we share in their joy. 

Throughout this entire chapter, one theme is repeated over and over again...that of doing good. It is common for those in ministry to grow weary because many times they work long hours with little to no time off. As a wife whose husband is in ministry, I find this to be a frequent struggle for me. 

But verse 9 says, 

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart." 

Finding a balance between life and ministry is admittedly a struggle for me. But maybe the struggle exists because ministry is my life and there really need not be a balance or separation between the two...maybe I find it so difficult because I still so often sow to my flesh...and verse 8 teaches us that sowing to the flesh only reaps corruption. 

There are so many references about doing good here in chapter six or about things of God being good. He who does good will be blessed. It will go well with he who does the things of God.  There are also several references to how he who has his eyes on himself or who pleases his flesh will suffer.

 I am struck with this thought:  what do I really think of myself? Is my struggle because I have made myself more important than others? 

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." Vs 15-16

Acts, service, outward appearance mean nothing to our God. What He cares about is the heart. If my heart is right, I will walk in obedience to Him and to His word. And I will find peace and mercy with him. 

Application: When I begin to feel like life is out of balance, I will stop and look at why. Am I serving myself or my family? Am I looking out for my own interests or am I thinking of others? Do I feel peace or am I anxious? As I journal through these things and spend time with the Lord, I will seek His face, I will wait upon him, and I will walk in obedience to what he teaches me. I will also make a list of what I need to rearrange in my life so that my ministry to family comes first before anything else. 

Galatians 5: The Contrasted Christian

Galatians 5

There is such contrast in this chapter: freedom and slavery, liberty and bondage, Spirit and flesh, circumcision and uncircumcision...and even more.

What speaks to me most is the fact that when we are in the Spirit, we walk in freedom. 

Vs 1: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."

Vs 16: "walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

Vs 18: "but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

Vs 25: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

For most of my life, I allowed myself to live in bondage, to be held captive by things from my past, to live in my flesh and in doing so I grieved the Spirit of my God. I was far from God's grace, as verse 4 talks about. After becoming a Christian, I attempted to live by the law, never truly understanding God's grace and the freedom it brings to His children.    

I love these contrasts Paul give us here because I know personally the contrast of my life before  I discovered the freedom I had in Christ and the way I lived before. I now understand that all those things that I held so dear for so long: anger, bitterness, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, drunkenness...and the like...held me captive, robbed me of living a joyful life, and kept me from the very freedom I had all along in Christ. All of that was my flesh waging war against the Spirit of God, that lived inside of me and had freed me and had and has victory of all of these things. 

I had desperately desired to see the fruit of the Spirit evident in my life, but never did. It seemed I always fall short. 

However, now, having gotten back in the race, I run at a more steady pace than ever before. I have a great joy inside of me that I honestly had never experienced in 15 years of being a Christian. I have a true love for people, even those that are very different than me. I am learning daily lessons on patience and how to be long-suffering. Through God's great kindness...I am now experiencing more and more desire to show that very thing to those in my life. I have learned that my faithfulness to the little things yields a faithfulness in my heart that rarely wavers. Doubt doesn't visit very often anymore, Praise God! The Lord has used other women in my life to teach me gentleness...and I am continuing to learn. And now there is a level of self control in my life that has become something that I do not even have to think about anymore. 

As Paul says, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me..."

I am not perfect, nor do I exhibit the fruit of the Spirit every single moment of life...however, I pray that more often than not, others see Jesus and not me!

"He must increase, but I must decrease." 

The saying goes "It's all about me." And we all laugh at that...the truth is it's all about Jesus but it is all up to us to let him be more and ourselves be less.

My application is to do a word study on kindness and gentleness. I know that I need the Lord's help in there two areas of my life. I will ask the Lord to show me opportunities to apply what I have already learned and also to continue to teach me. I will also ask Matt help keep me accountable to practicing these two fruits of the Spirit. 

Don't forget the salt!

Leviticus 2:13
"Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings, add salt to all your offerings."

I was so intrigued when I read this in my devotions the other day...

When I went to dig deeper into what the use of salt here meant, I found this on Blue Letter Bible:

All meat-offerings were seasoned with salt (Lev 2:13). To eat salt with one is to partake of his hospitality, to derive subsistence from him; and hence he who did so was bound to look after his host's interests (Ezr 4:14)

Jesus made such an emphasis on salt and how we as his followers are salt and light, salt of the earth, and so on...This really impacts me that God put emphasis on the importance of salt in the Levitical offerings and also that Jesus did the same thing...in light of the BLB definition and how salt relates to the hospitality of a person and that as the partaker of salt you are bound to look after the interests of the one giving you the salt...I learn that I am the salt of the earth only because I am a follower of Jesus Christ. So therefore Jesus is the generous host offering me hospitality and as consume of the  salt that He offers (as I know Him more and grow in Him more and therefore am more 'salty') I derive substance from Him and am bound to Him, as one who partaker of His provisions...it is my reasonable sacrifice to represent Him well...to be salt in this world...to look after His interests which are that all men would know Him....

How will others ever know Jesus if we as His children do not 'pass the salt' in our every day lives?

In the passage from Leviticus, we see that even the grain offerings were to be seasoned with salt. The use of salt was a representation of a covenant with God between the one making the offering. The last part of verse 13 says to 'add salt to all your offerings.'

Every new day is a gift from God. We have the option each day to choose whom we will serve. It is our reasonable sacrifice that we give God the control over each day and that we serve Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind. May every day be an offering to God and may each offering be seasoned
with salt, that those around us, both believers and the lost, be able to taste and see that the Lord is good!

Don't forget the salt today!