Many professed Christians do not see the church as a safe place to turn when they are in a struggle. How sad is that? It would be like experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack and not going to the doctor because you are afraid he’ll be mad at you.

G6 is about the Gospel message of God’s grace.  It’s about God’s heartbeat for restoring those who struggle, helping those who can’t bear their burdens on their own, and encouraging everyone to carry their own load.

G6 comes from the first ten verses of Galatians 6 where Paul lays out the path for helping those who struggle.

First, we restore them in a spirit of gentleness, without judgment or condemnation.  Matthew 18:13 tells us that the heart of God is for those who have gone astray to come back home to him.  As Christ-followers, our role is show them the way home through the avenues of God’s grace.

Second, Galatians 6:2 says that we are to help bear one another burdens “and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  Sometimes the burdens of life are too much for one person to bear.  Maybe the burden is situational (loss of a job) or chronic (like an addiction).  As Christ-followers, we stand in the gap with those who struggle, proclaiming the sufficiency of God’s grace regardless of the circumstances.

Third, we must retain personal responsibility for carrying our own loads (v. 5).  We don’t do for someone else what they are able to do for themselves…that creates dependency on us, not God.

Finally, we recognize that God’s system for spiritual growth includes the laws of sowing and reaping (vv. 7-8).  When people make (sow) healthy, God-honoring choices, they get (reap) good consequences.  Bad choices yield bad consequences.  Growth is a grace event that happens when I connect the dots between my choices and consequences.

Keep checking back with us to see how the dialogue is going…We hope you join the conversation too!