Galatians 6:9-10 - And let us
not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest
of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up. That’s
why whenever we can we should always be kind to everyone, and especially to our
Christian brothers.
Paul closed his letter to the Galatians by reminding them
that Christianity does not transform us into perfect people….we can be pulled
away from God…and become weak enough to let sin overcome us. We need to have each
other’s back…and find loving….gentle….kind ways to help them find their way
back to God.
1 Corinthians 10:12 is burned in my brain and heart. I heard it the first time while sitting in
recovery meetings…desperately trying to find purpose in the loss of my second husband.
It says… “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't
fall.” It is used as the scripture support for step 10… introducing the concept
of taking a personal inventory…and using humility to dig deep into the reasons
we might have strayed far enough away from God to commit sin in the first
place.
Paul tells us here that one of our responsibilities as a
believer is to keep our own hearts humble enough that we can use kindness…. love….
and gentleness… to encourage….not blame…. for none of us has ever lived a
perfect life. Harshness… breeds the seeds of hypocrisy… and eventually
discourages. Unkindness and
insensitivity breed seeds of discouragement that eventually lead to a total
shut down…a quitter attitude. When sin gets a hold of that….total brokenness ….
It sows even more sin.
Paul is giving us the key to letting encouragement build the
strength that people need to throw off the sin that binds them…just like
Hebrews 12:1 says…. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so
easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” The power of encouragement is also revealed in
Isaiah 40:31 … “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They
will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will
walk and not be faint.”
I was reading about those wings last night. All bird wings are created very
differently. Eagle wings are broad and
slotted….designed to use the air current to soar or glide effortlessly in the
sky. The flying lessons they receive are remarkably like the way God sometimes
teaches us. Their first flight is actually inside the nest….using the current
of their parents wings…they hover only inches straight up and down inside the
safety of the nest. And if the young fledgling doesn’t have the courage to
spread their wings and take their first flight on their own…the parents start
to withhold food…flying temptingly close to the nest with tasty morsels till the
bird gets the message they have to work for the food they will eat in the
future. They have to leave the nest…or they will starve to death.
God does not want any of us to starve…he knows that the sin
we have let enter our lives will only grow into more sin. We have to be like those loving eagle parents…and
fly close enough to the fellow Christians we see struggling with the morsels of
kindness and love that they need to develop enough strength to renew the
relationship with God they let get so weak that sin found a way in their heart.
Once they leave that nest of sin...they too will realize that the air currents
that God provided for us will power them the rest of the way.
Father…thank you for the reminder that sin is always going
to be close enough to me to battle for my heart. Forgive me for the times that I have let
seeds of sin breed discouragement in myself and others. Help me to learn to fly
like those eagles….using the bible and prayer as my current….letting you renew
my spirit to heights I have never reached before. Help me keep close watch for
the seeds of sin that might be my next undoing. Amen.
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