Take Responsibility for Yourself
Galatians 6 (Part 2/5)
Galatians 6:4-5
4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
Principle #2: Take Responsibility for Yourself
We will focus on personal accountability and our own walk rather than comparing ourselves to others.
Galatians 6:4 — Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.
Pay attention to your own walk with the Lord.
Notice what David says in Psalm 139. I’ve bolded all of the personal pronouns so you can more plainly see how he is focusing on his own relationship with the Lord before anyone else’s.
Psalm 139:23-24 — Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Let’s also look at this story Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke about a Pharisee and a tax collector.
Luke 18:11-13 — “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Again, the point is to pay attention to your own walk. If we start to compare ourselves to other people, we’ll develop pride in our walk rather than that peace we’ll feel from following God. We’ll think, “At least I’m not doing what that person’s doing” like the Pharisee in that story.
Many times (not all, of course), when you want a situation to change or a person in your life to treat you differently, the solution is not to pray for God to fix that situation or person. It’s to pray for the Lord to work in you to see things rightly.
In the end, we need to be careful about comparison and pride. That’s the warning here. Eyes on your own walk! Strengthen your relationship with the Lord and stay faithful to Him.
Why?
Galatians 6:5 — For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
“Conduct” in other versions is translated as “burdens” or “load.”
Conduct/load in the Greek (φορτίον — phortion) means tasks, responsibilities, or obligations that individuals bear in their personal or spiritual lives.
Unlike “baros“ (the Greek word for “burden” in Galatians 6:2), which can imply a heavy or oppressive load, “phortion“ often denotes a load that is appropriate or expected for one to carry.
Matthew 11:28-30 - Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Since we’re not such an agricultural culture, this comparison doesn’t stand out to us as much anymore. But a yoke would tie two oxen together so that the more experienced ox could teach the younger ox how to work.
That’s a picture of us with Jesus. He teaches us how to live a humble and gentle Christian life with an easy yoke and light burden.
Now, it’s important to note that, even though it sounds like it, this is not a contradiction of Galatians 6:2. We will bear our own loads, and there are burdens we can bear for others as we share in this Christian life.
Which means we must get good at giving our burdens to Christ. If we’re holding on to everything, we can’t bear others’ burdens. And Jesus does not expect nor desire for us to do this all alone. He is part of this equation, and we’d do well to remember that.
It’s another call to be a good steward of this life so we can responsibly carry our own load as we help others carry theirs.
If you woke up this morning, it’s not too late.
Grace & peace,
Michelle Kampmeier