Perspective

Galatians 6:1-18

About a decade ago, the mantra of our society was "You gotta look out for number 1;" look out for yourself, because no one else will. Today, the sentiment has changed just a bit to "It's all about me!" There are even t-shirts and notepads to remind people that you’re really all that matters. Thankfully, most people don't live that out 100%, but no matter how consumed we are by this philosophy, it is absolutely opposed to what is taught here in Galatians 6.

Paul doesn't ease us into anything, as he closes his letter to the Galatians. He comes right out and reminds us that none of us can fulfill the requirements of the Law on our own. We are powerless to please or impress God by our obedience or faithfulness. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. Do you struggle to live that out like I do?

Galatians 6:3 might be one of my favorite verses in the NLT: "If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." We are certainly important. We hear the echo of God's declaration of our value over and over again in Scripture. But our value is not found in comparing ourselves to others, and it is not found in our obedience. We are valuable, because we were created by God. Still, our value does not make us more important than someone else. Jesus is our example, our righteous, all-powerful God, who humbled Himself to pay our death on a cross. So when we're tempted to think we're too important to help someone, we are certainly not more important than Jesus, who was willing to exchange heavenly glory for the humility and difficulty of human existence. Since Jesus didn't think He was too important to reach out to sinners, why would we?

When we think it’s all about us – whether we make ourselves the focus of everything or we try to measure ourselves by comparison to others, our perspective is skewed. Rather than seeing someone near us overcome by sin and deciding to intervene, gently and humbly guiding them back to the right path, we decide it’s really none of our business, or we criticize them for allowing their sin to be so obvious. But none of us keeps the whole Law ourselves. All we can boast about, with Paul, is the cross of Jesus Christ. When our focus is on Christ and we see our lives through the filter of His Cross, we see things in proper perspective. As the Law and the Gospel work in us, we see our own shortcomings and rejoice in Jesus’ sacrificial provision for us. Then, being gentle and humble makes sense. Carrying each other’s burdens seems right. And we see that our weakness really is powerful, because it allows God’s love to shine through us.