HELPING OTHERS
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
I think, first, we have to position ourselves to help others. We have all received help, if not from a person, definitely form the Lord, so we should freely give help. How do we start? I think it begins with meekness; with an attitude of humility and submission, we should receive the Word of God, which is able to save our souls (James 1:21). This verse also indicates that it will help us to lay aside uncleanness and wickedness. Since we have learned to walk in meekness, which helped us receive God’s Word, we can begin to help others in the spirit of meekness. We must realize where we have come from and be aware of the temptation the devil will try and bring as we help others.
I think another way the spirit of meekness helps others is when they see us walking in it. Jesus said, “Come and learn of me because I am meek and humble.” He wants us to see how He walked in meekness and then, for us to duplicate it. Titus 3:2 says, “To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.” If we show meekness to everyone, we won’t fight but instead, we will be gentle and kind, which will set quite an example. You can’t do it without the spirit of meekness, which comes from your born-again spirit. You can’t live consistently this way unless you have been taught by the Holy Ghost, the greatest teacher of all.
This scripture, too, will help us to restore people in a spirit of meekness by being an example that shows forth the meekness God has enabled us with. James 3:13 says, “Who is a wise man endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” The NLT says it this way, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” The Message says it this way, “Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom.” If we live this way, we can easily restore others because we have proven by the Word, by the Spirit, and by the spirit of meekness that is in our life, that we can help.
When we go to restore someone, which is definitely missing in the body of Christ, we do it with meekness, with the understanding that we have been in their shoes. When we go to restore someone, it is because the meekness we have received has changed us. In meekness, we have allowed the Spriit of God to correct us, so that now we have the ability to live an honorable life, not because of will power, but because of God’s power. And because we decided to walk in the spirit of meekness for ourselves, we can now help others, so we should go about doing that.