Message: Galatians 6 concludes Paul’s letter to the church of Galatia. He continued the theme of his message to them about the danger of listening to these men that wanted them to be circumcised. He also spoke to them about the importance of being led by the Holy Spirit. In the very first verse he directs believers who are Spirit-led to restore those who have fallen into sin. My translation (like many others) says “you that are spiritual restore him”. This is so easily misinterpreted by religious or church people and this can be dangerous because the people who tend to believe they are spiritual are probably the least Spirit-led ones. Spirit-led people are humble, but confidently living in a day-to day obedience to God. Not to a list of “Christian” rules, but to the voice of God leading and directing them in attitude and direction. They don’t allow their own desires to drive their lives and they live by the understanding that they don’t own themselves because God does. In Galatians 6 even these people are cautioned to be careful in helping a brother in sin because any one of us can be pulled into their mess. Maybe not into the same sin, but maybe even into a pride that they are not in that same mess. The most important part of these instructions is that this is to be done in love and in gentleness. Only a Spirit-led person is able to administer truth in a way that is gentle and productive. That takes the Holy Spirit working through us and even on our nicest day, we don’t have the capacity to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done without the power of the Holy Spirit. We need his leading and direction to navigate through the pain and get to the root of the problem. This is something we are not able to see on our own and something only the Holy Spirit can touch in a heart that will heal. Even as I read this I am in awe of what the Holy Spirit does in the hearts of people and I read this with a strong conviction that no matter how Spirit-led we are, we are all still battling against the desires of our flesh trying to take the lead so we all have days and moments where we are not accurately hearing from the Holy Spirit. Knowing this we have to pray and humble our own hearts first and ask the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do and to lead us into the conversations he wants us to have. I feel like I have definitely approached this both ways and I could tell the difference because conversations like this are not always well-received at first. If I am not grounded in the Holy Spirit at that moment my pride will rise up when the response comes back negatively and I feel I am misunderstood. I will get offended and personalize the response. If I am grounded in the Holy Spirit I am able to disassociate my own feelings with the response and understand that the person I am speaking with is reacting out of pain that has nothing to do with me. This reminds me of the eunuch that took out Jezebel in the old testament. Because he was physically castrated, her sexual manipulation had no effect on his ability to do what was necessary. This is a blunt example, but it’s what we have to do with our own feelings when we are trying to help someone out of their mess. We need the Holy Spirit to lead us as we lead others. We can’t detach our emotions completely because we need them to communicate empathy and compassion, but through the Holy Spirit we have to choose not to be offended or prideful in the process.
