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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Galatians 6; Psalm 126; Job 4; Jeremiah 34.
Galatians 6:1-7
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load. 6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
I may not have been gentle—but at the time, I didn’t think it mattered.
A woman had purchased two concrete planters and set them at the entrance to the new building addition at the church I was serving. Each held a beautiful shrub. Then one morning, I arrived to find that the planters were gone—and the shrubs lay on the ground beside the doors. Someone had stolen them!
We replaced those planters, but before doing so I printed this verse on the replacements:
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” – Galatians 6:7
I was angry. My “warning label” was anything but gentle. But no one ever read it—and the new planters remained unmoved.
A friend of mine believes pride is the root of all sin. We’ve talked about this more than once. I’m not entirely convinced he’s right—but I’m not sure he’s wrong either. What I am convinced of is this: humility is absolutely essential to healthy relationships within the body of Christ.
Humility is also essential to faith itself. We must humble ourselves before God to repent of our sins and trust in his grace. It is the defining mark of Jesus’ own character—“who humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
So when I need correction, I must be humble enough to receive it. And when I’m called to help restore someone else, I must do so with gentleness and humility – one sinner guiding another back to the cross, where both stand on level ground.
The fruit of the Spirit adorns such confrontations and exhortations beautifully. Humility sparkles like the diamond it is when the light of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, and goodness all shine on it. Gentleness and humility are not only essential to Christian relationships, they reflect the grace of Christ, who restores us gently, forgives freely, and sows mercy in hearts that once were proud.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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