Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If any of you think you are something when you are nothing, you deceive yourselves. Each of you should test your own actions. Then you can take pride in yourself, without comparing yourself to somebody else, for each of you should carry your own load. Nevertheless, those who receive instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
—Galatians 5:25-6:10 (TNIV)
If you want to see faith in action, Paul here gives us a good example. First, notice how he tells us to treat those caught misbehaving. We are to restore that person gently. The guilty party will likely have to suffer the consequences for misbehaving, but the goal is restoration, not punishment or exclusion. Why? Because this is how God has treated us in Christ. None of us is worthy to stand before God on our own. It is impossible. But when we understand that we have been justified in God’s sight through the blood of Christ, we are necessarily humbled by this and treat offenders exactly how we wish God to treat us as offenders.
Second, notice the clearheaded advice Paul gives. Be on guard. Be watchful over yourself and your own actions. Be ruthless on yourself but gentle and merciful toward others (we typically do it the other way around). Why? Because we live in a body of sin, our mortal body, and we are ever prone to miss the mark ourselves. Therefore we have no reason to be self-righteous or haughty toward others because we are no better than them. As Paul tells the Romans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This isn’t some pious platitude; it’s an accurate description of the deadly problem of the human condition. When we fully realize that about ourselves (we do it so easily for others), it is another indication that we are beginning to develop a humble spirit, part of the transformative process of living in the Spirit.
Last, Paul seems to be reminding us that our efforts at manifesting our faith, i.e., doing good deeds for others, are exactly what we are to be doing if we love God because that is what God wills for each of us. Even when it appears that our efforts go for naught, we are to persevere, says Paul, because God is in charge and will not be mocked. He has an eternal perspective and we are to trust him that he will be both merciful and just. He will be merciful to those who choose to put their whole hope and trust in him and just to those who don’t. Just as living in the Spirit bears fruit, so does living in the flesh, and we can reasonably conclude that those who persist in pleasing their sinful nature have chosen not to put their hope and trust in God. Yes, even those of us who live in the Spirit will continue to sin, but that is not the persistent and consistent pattern of our living. Our sin is an anomaly rather than the norm.
When you finally understand the wondrous hope that is in the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is life-changing. This doesn’t mean life in Christ is easy; it isn’t because we are sinful and fallen creatures. But when we finally realize the enormous gravity of our sin and the separation from God it causes, receiving the Good News by faith is like taking the weight of the world off our shoulders. It truly makes us free to love and serve this God of ours who loves us madly and who has given himself for us in a great and costly act on the cross. This is what God wants for each of us.
Do you have Good News in your life?