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"So where do we go from here? What practical steps can we take to resolve this crisis?" The couple asking these questions had taken a long time just to understand the crisis they were facing in their marriage. But now that they had gained some insights into the reasons for their conflict, they were ready to work to put things right.
So far Paul has led the Galatian believers to understand the historical and theological background for the crisis in their churches and given them general principles about life in the Spirit. Now he spells out specific responsibilities for those who are led by the Spirit so that they can rebuild their broken relationships.
The responsibilities of those who are spiritual (v. 1) are directly related to the problem of division in the Galatian churches. We have already noted that when Paul describes the problem in the churches, he speaks of "biting and devouring each other" (5:15) and "provoking and envying each other" (5:26). The false teachers' campaign to force all the Gentile believers to become Jews would have divided the churches into hostile groups: the Jewish Christians who zealously campaigned for the necessity of circumcision and observance of the Mosaic law, the Gentile believers who zealously pursued the goal of living like Jews, and the Gentile believers who were not willing or able to live by the Mosaic law. Paul's list of responsibilities in this section shows how those who are truly led by the Spirit can bring healing and unity in their divided churches. The responsibilities include both the believers' corporate responsibilities to one another and the individual believer's personal accountability before God. Our public care for one another must be matched by integrity in our private walk before God. Note how corporate responsibilities and individual accountability are woven together in this section:
1. corporate: restore him gently
2. individual: watch yourself
3. corporate: carry each other's burdens
4. individual: each one should test his own actions . . . each one should carry his own load
5. corporate: share all good things with his instructor
6. individual: do not be deceived . . . a man reaps what he sows
7. corporate: do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers
The first responsibility of those who are spiritual is the restoration of one who has sinned. Paul's conditional clause, if someone is caught in a sin, is framed in such a way as to point to the high probability that members of the church will sin. Sin in the church is not a hypothetical possibility, it is a reality. Paul and his readers both knew of believers in the church who had been trapped by sin. The kind of sin in view here is not specified by Paul. It could be any one of the "acts of the sinful nature" (5:19-21). Paul is more concerned about the manner in which sinners in the church are treated than in the sin itself.
Moral failure in the church should not be a surprise, nor should it be considered fatal to the life of the church. What is important is the church's response when such failure occurs. The church may respond with harsh condemnation under the law. That response will crush the sinner and divide the church. That seems to have been what was happening in the churches in Galatia. The zealots for the law were merciless to sinners. But Paul wants to show that the occasion of sin is the opportunity for Spirit-led people to display the fruit of the Spirit in order to bring healing to the sinner and unity in the church.
In order to bring healing to the sinner, we must have a compassionate view of the one who has sinned. Paul does not define the kind of sin, but he does describe the consequence of sin. He views the sinner as one who is caught in a sin. When a person sins, other people are hurt; other people are victims of that sin. But we must remember that sinners themselves are also in some sense victims of sin. Abusers have also been abused. They have been overtaken, ambushed and seized by sin. Paul is not excusing the sinner of personal responsibility. But he is recognizing the terrible captivating force of sin. Just as Jesus said, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34), so now Paul says that the one who sins is trapped by sin. When we view moral offenders as those who are enslaved and entrapped, we have a compassionate attitude toward them. We will want to help them break the bondage of sin over their life.
Paul appeals to those who are spiritual to help the one who is caught in a sin. The spiritual are not some elite leadership group of spiritual giants. All the way through the letter Paul has been emphasizing that all of his converts in Galatia have received the Spirit (3:2-5, 14; 4:6, 29; 5:5, 16-18, 22-23, 25). All of those whom he addresses in 6:1 as brothers (by which Paul also means to include sisters, according to 3:28) are spiritual, since all who are the children of God have received the Spirit of God, according to 4:6. In other words, Paul is calling on all who have believed the true gospel and received the Spirit to be actively engaged in the ministry of restoration. One way to "keep in step with the Spirit" (5:25) is to restore one who has been trapped in sin.
Paul's directive to the spiritual is to restore the sinner. The verb restore could be used in physical or material contexts to signify resetting a broken bone or mending a torn net (see Mt 4:21; Mk 1:19). In spiritual contexts it meant perfecting in spiritual maturity and equipping for service (2 Cor 13:11; Eph 4:12; 1 Thess 3:10; Heb 13:21). In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul uses the same verb to express his desire that the divided church in Corinth "be perfectly united." The church had been broken and torn by divisions; it needed to be reset as a physician would reset broken bones and mended as a fisherman would repair torn nets. Here in Galatians 6:1 the verb restore calls for spiritual therapy so that a broken member of the body can once again work properly and perform its vital functions for the benefit of the whole body.
As long as any member of the body is broken, the whole body suffers. If the broken member of the body is amputated, the whole body suffers the loss. What is needed is restoration. The goal is the recovery of Christian brothers and sisters who have sinned so that the whole body will be healthy and productive again.
The exact methods of restoration are not described by Paul. They will vary according to the individual circumstances. But Paul does specify the manner of restoration: restore him gently. Literally, he says, restore "in a spirit of gentleness." "Gentleness" is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit (5:23). Gentleness is not weakness; it is great strength under control. When gentle Christians see someone caught in a sin, they do not react with violent emotions or with arrogance. Even when sinful actions are scandalous and harmful, the emotions of the gentle person are under control, and the will of the gentle person is devoted to loving the sinner all the way to total recovery. Only the Holy Spirit can empower a person to respond in such a "spirit of gentleness."
Gentleness is not only consideration of the needs of others but also humility in recognition of one's own needs before God. So Paul moves from his command for restoration in the plural form, addressed to all, to a command for self-examination in the singular form, addressed to each individual. Corporate responsibility must be undergirded by the personal integrity of each individual before God. But watch yourself, Paul commands. Close observation of the inner life is necessary because everyone is vulnerable to temptation: you also may be tempted.
Awareness of my own vulnerability to moral failure not only puts me on guard against temptation but also enables me to respond with a spirit of gentleness to someone trapped in sin. The specific temptation in view here seems to be the temptation to react with arrogance and anger to the sin of the offender. Both 5:26 and 6:3-4 speak directly to this temptation. It is understandable that the Galatians' desire to live under the law (4:21) had produced moral watchdogs who were pouncing on sinners, "biting and devouring each other" (5:15). Their sins of conceit (5:26) and their "fits of rage" (5:20) were just as serious as the sin of the offender whom they were so harshly condemning.
In contrast, those who are led by the Spirit are aware that they are "only sinners saved by grace." All their responses to other sinners are guided by the personal insight of their own weakness and their total dependence on the redemptive love of God.
Paul turns again to the corporate responsibility of all Spirit-led Christians: Carry each other's burdens. To "serve one another in love" (5:13) means to bear each other's burdens. After all, bearing burdens is the work of servants. The term burdens may refer to all kinds of physical, emotional, mental, moral or spiritual burdens: for example, financial burdens, the consequences of cancer or the results of divorce. The list of burdens crushing fellow Christians could be extended indefinitely. And no doubt the command to carry each other's burdens covers every conceivable kind of burden and calls for us to be sensitive enough to perceive even the unseen burdens that our brothers and sisters try to hide.
But in the context the command seems to be directed primarily to the burdens of sin referred to in 6:1. Sin always has a kind of domino effect in a person's life. The consequences of one moral failure can be multiplied almost indefinitely. For example, the sin of fornication, sexual union before marriage, may seem natural in the heat of passion. But then the young woman finds out that she is pregnant. And the burdens caused by a moment of sin start to multiply. My wife spends time each week with such young women. Without condoning the sin, she walks with these friends through their emotional turmoil and constantly reassures them that she does not reject them and God does not reject them. She tries to lead them to understand what got them into trouble in the first place and how they can walk in moral freedom. She demonstrates her loving acceptance not only through her warm, affectionate attitude toward them but also by getting involved in their lives. She helps them in many ways to get ready for the birth of their children. She is often called upon to be a mediator between them and their angry, upset families. When the call comes in the middle of the night that her friend is in labor, she goes to the hospital to encourage and comfort. In many ways she bears their burdens.
When we carry each other's burdens in this way, we will fulfill the law of Christ (v. 2). Paul's reference to the law of Christ here establishes a striking contrast between fulfilling the law of Christ and keeping the law of Moses. Keeping the law of Moses was the preoccupation of the law teachers and all who followed their message in the Galatian churches. But their focus was on how the observance of the Mosaic law separated God's people, the Jewish nation, from "Gentile sinners" (2:15). Circumcision, purity and dietary laws, and sabbath and festival regulations were boundary markers established by the law of Moses to preserve the unique identity of the Jewish people. Maintaining the ethnic identity of the Jewish people by observing these boundaries was viewed as a fulfillment of the purpose of the law of Moses. All who lived within these boundaries would certainly enjoy the blessing of God; all who lived outside of these boundaries by neglecting to observe them were under God's curse. The law teachers insisted that the Gentile believers had to live within these boundaries to be reckoned among the people of God. Their zeal for the law made them intolerant of all nonconformists to these standards.
Paul knew from his own experience in Judaism before his encounter with Christ how destructive such zeal for the law could be (1:13-14). His conflict with "false brothers" in the Jerusalem church (2:4-5) and with Peter in the church at Antioch confirmed how quickly zeal for the law could divide the church by classifying Gentile believers as "Gentile sinners" and excluding them from the people of God. And now the zealous teachers of the law are inciting Christians in the Galatian churches to bite, devour, provoke and envy each other. Ironically, their preoccupation with keeping the Mosaic law resulted in breaking the central commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself."
In contrast to this attitude, Paul says that the law of Christ is fulfilled when his people carry the burdens of sinners! Serving sinners in the church, not separating sinners from the church, is the way to fulfill the law of Christ. There are two striking parallels between this reference to the law of Christ in 6:2 and the quotation of the love commandment from the law of Moses in 5:13-14. First, both "laws" are prefaced by parallel references to mutual service: "serve one another in love" and carry each other's burdens. Second, in both places Paul uses the term fulfill to describe what happens when mutual service is performed: "the entire law is summed up" (literally, "fulfilled") and you will fulfill the law of Christ.
These parallels in 5:13-14 and 6:2 indicate that despite the great contrast between keeping the law of Moses and fulfilling the law of Christ, there is also a close connection between Moses' law and Christ's law. Some have thought that this close connection indicates that the law of Moses and the law of Christ are one and the same. Others suggest that only the command to love, apart from any other external principles, is the law of Christ. Still others say that the love commandment defined and clarified by Christ's words and example is the law of Christ. The simple equation of the first interpretation does not work, since at least some aspects of the Mosaic law (such as dietary laws [2:14], sabbath/festival regulations [4:10] and circumcision [5:1-3]) are clearly not applicable to the Gentile churches. The second interpretation is too reductionistic, since both Jesus and Paul do define and apply the command to love in terms of external principles. The third interpretation is not entirely adequate either, because Paul does not simply substitute one code of precepts, the Mosaic law, with a new collection of rules based on Jesus' words and illustrated by Jesus' works. He does not simply replace the Mosaic law with a Messianic law. What such an interpretation misses is the centrality of the cross and the Spirit in Paul's ethical teaching.
The law of Christ is not so much the law taught by Christ, though of course he did teach and apply the love commandment. But when he taught the love commandment, he directed attention to himself: "Love each other as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12). The law of Christ is the love commandment fulfilled, confirmed and heightened in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. He loved sinners and gave himself for them (Gal 2:20); on the cross he bore the terrible burden of the law's curse against them (3:13); he set them free from the burden of the yoke of slavery under the law (5:1). Hence all who are united with Christ and are led by the Spirit will also fulfill the high standard of love established by the life, death and resurrection of Christ: like him, they will love sinners and carry their burdens. Serving one another in love in this way expresses Christ's love and so fulfills Christ's law.
And here is a delightful surprise: those who have received the Spirit and have been set free from the Mosaic law actually fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic law (see Rom 8:4) summed up in the single command "Love your neighbor as yourself"! Christlike, Spirit-empowered love fulfills the law.
Paul turns back again to the need for personal evaluation. Self-evaluation is necessary since there is always the danger of self-deception (v. 3). Personal evaluation must be made on the basis of a careful examination of one's own work, not on the basis of comparison with others (v. 4). Personal evaluation should clarify one's God-given mission in life (v. 5).
The warning against self-deception (v. 3) enlarges upon the warning against conceit (5:26) and temptation (6:1). The most serious spiritual danger of all is the self-delusion of pride: someone who thinks he is something when he is nothing. In the immediate context, Paul's rebuke must be aimed at those who thought so highly of their own status that they were unwilling to take the role of servants to carry the burdens of others. The Jewish Christian law teachers were so impressed with the importance of their mission of imposing the Mosaic law on Gentile believers that they had no time or interest to bear the sin-burdens of "Gentile sinners" who had come to Christ. The Gentile Christians were so intent on coming under the yoke of the law to establish their status as full members of the favored Jewish people that they did not lift a finger to help carry the burdens of their fellow Christians.
These zealots' pride in the law kept them from serving one another in love. And so, thinking themselves to be something, they were in fact nothing. For as Paul says in another letter, "if I . . . have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor 13:2). Instead of loving one another, these zealots for the law were provoking one another (5:26). Their arrogance caused them to react in angry condemnation toward those who sinned, rather than to help restore sinners by carrying their burdens. No wonder then that Paul interweaves this warning against the self-delusion of pride with his call to service. Only those who are freed from delusions of their own importance will be able to serve others in love.
The only way to prevent self-deception is to examine the value of one's own work: each one should test his own actions (v. 4). The term Paul uses for test means to examine for the purpose of determining true worth. As the jeweler examines a precious stone under a magnifying glass in very bright light to determine its worth, so each Christian should scrutinize his or her actions to determine their true worth before God. The standard used for this evaluation is the law of Christ: the love of Christ expressed in his life and death and produced by his Spirit in all who believe in him. Paul has said that "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (5:6). In other words, to examine one's work is to evaluate whether one's faith in Christ is expressing itself in Christlike actions of love.
If a Christian's careful examination of his life indicates that at least to some extent the love of Christ is being expressed through his actions, then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else (v. 4). At first reading these words seem to contradict what Paul has just said. If he has just warned against the self-deception of pride (v. 3), how can he now say that a Christian can take pride in himself (v. 4)? The NIV translation is a paraphrase of words that could be translated more literally as "then he will have a reason for boasting in himself and not by comparison with someone else." What Paul is doing here is contrasting two kinds of boasting. These two kinds of boasting are clarified a few verses later where Paul says, "They want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (vv. 13-14). The law teachers were boasting on the basis of comparisons between the circumcised and the uncircumcised. They were the circumcised, the faithful people of God; the uncircumcised Gentile sinners were despised and excluded. But such boasting on the basis of a comparison of national differences or religious practices was all passe. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value" (5:6). Paul vows never to boast in his own standing as a pedigreed member of the Jewish nation or in his zealous devotion to the Jewish traditions. But Paul the Christian continues to boast: he boasts in the cross of Christ (v. 14). That is his boast in 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul boasted in the cross because the cross was the ultimate display of the love of God for sinners. When we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection, that love of God for sinners can be expressed through us by the power of the Spirit. And that is the reason for Christians to boast!
It is important to stress that the boasting of Christians is not in the "flesh" (v. 13)--racial superiority and religious practices. Such boasting is like that of the Pharisee who said, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get" (Lk 18:11-12). Notice how his boasting is based on the kind of comparison with others which Paul expressly forbids in 6:4. The boasting of Christians is paradoxical: it is a boasting in something considered shameful by the standards of the world. That the Messiah should suffer on a Roman cross was shameful. But by his cross "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (3:13). That Christians should serve each other by carrying each other's burdens was also considered shameful from the perspective of the world's values. But when the self-sacrificing love of Christ is seen in the actions of Christians, there is reason for boasting. Christians should celebrate that they can love because of their experience of the cross of Christ and the power of the Spirit.
When we engage in this kind of self-evaluation, we are renewed in our commitment to our own God-given mission: for each one should carry his own load (v. 5). Each of us has been called by God to carry our own load. There is no contradiction here with verse 2, which calls for Christians to carry each other's burdens. In fact, Paul uses two different Greek words to make a clear distinction between the burden (baros) and the load (phortion). Though these two words are basically synonymous in other contexts, the change of nouns in this context indicates a change of reference. Verse 2 refers to the need to come to the aid of others who cannot carry the crushing burden of the consequences of their sin. Verse 5 refers to work given to us by our Master, before whom we will have to give an account of how we used the opportunities and talents he gave us to serve him. It is because we desire to fulfill our God-given mission in life that we learn how to carry the burdens of others. In other words, as Christians examine their actions to see if they reflect the love of Christ, they are at the same time led by that self-evaluation to consider how to serve others in love.
My father is a Christian businessman who constantly seeks to use his business as a way to serve others in love. All my life I have heard him pray and seen him work for opportunities to be a witness for Christ to his business associates and his customers by the way he serves them. He and his partners call their business ServiceMaster, which means "servants of the Master" and "masters of service." For me he will always be one of the best examples of one who serves the Master by serving others. In Paul's words, he carries his own load by carrying the burdens of others.
Paul's challenge to fulfill one's God-given mission in life (carry one's own load) is now balanced by a recognition that some who are fulfilling their God-given mission in the church by teaching the Word need special support from the whole church. Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor (v. 6). Here we see an extremely practical application of the fruit of the Spirit. The love empowered by the Spirit is expressed in "goodness." In practice, that means sharing good things with our teachers.
This simple instruction to support teachers opens a window for us to see some important aspects of the life of the early church. First, we learn that formal instruction in the word was going on in the churches of Galatia. The title catechist is derived from the Greek word translated instructor, and the title catechumen is derived from the Greek word translated anyone who receives instruction. In other words, the early church had a catechism: formal instruction in basic Christian theology. In our day there is often a negative reaction to any attempt to communicate doctrine or theology in the church. Of course academic speculation unrelated to the problems of everyday life is unprofitable. But Christian growth is dependent on sound biblical teaching. Paul saw the need for instruction in Christian theology and sought to encourage it by this practical guideline.
Second, Paul's guideline to support teachers indicates that Christian teaching was a full-time occupation that precluded the opportunity to earn money in some other profession. We know that Paul did at times support himself by his tentmaking. But he considered himself to be an exception to the rule. He thought that teachers in the church should work hard at their job of teaching and be well paid for it (1 Cor 9:14; 1 Tim 5:17). Sometimes full-time Christian teachers are made to feel inferior because they do not have a "real job." But why should those who work hard at teaching the Word of God feel that they are doing something less important than others who sell computer chips, unless the value of work is measured by the amount of money earned? That is surely a questionable measuring stick to use for determining the ultimate value of work. Paul places great value on the work of teaching the Word. It is the basis for strong churches and healthy Christians.
Third, we learn that when teachers faithfully give the Word to the churches and the churches give back good things, there is unity in the church. The command must share is a translation of an often-repeated Greek word: koinonia, "fellowship" or "partnership." Undoubtedly Paul was concerned to encourage this kind of partnership in the Word because he knew that this letter alone could not bring about a complete resolution of the crisis in the Galatian churches. If the churches were to be united and strong again, there had to be a full-time teaching ministry in the church. Gifted teachers needed to devote themselves to an accurate interpretation and application of the "truth of the gospel." In order for them to do that, they needed to receive enthusiastic, generous support for their work of teaching. The same is true today.
The responsibilities listed so far present two opposite ways of life: the way of the Spirit and the way of the sinful nature. The absolute contrast between these alternatives has been developed throughout Paul's ethical appeal. Now it is the hour of decision. Now his readers must consider very carefully the consequences of choosing one way or the other. They cannot drift; they cannot remain neutral; they must decide whether they are going to walk by the Spirit or gratify the desires of their sinful nature. Since each individual must decide for himself or herself which way to live, Paul puts his challenge in a singular form.
Paul introduces his call for decision with a solemn warning based on an agricultural principle: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (v. 7). When people think and act as if they will not reap what they have sown, or as if they will reap something different from what they have sown, they are deceiving themselves and mocking God. But since the inexorable law of reaping what is sown has always been proved true, the proverbial statement of warning God cannot be mocked is also true: no one can mock God and get away with it.
Yet there is a common tendency to think that there is one exception to this universal principle: "Though it proves true for everyone else, it is not true for me. I will not have to reap a harvest from the seeds I sow. I can sow whatever seed I want and still expect a good harvest." This common line of thought only proves the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9). Our capacity for self-deception is frightening. It is amazing how blind otherwise brilliant people can be to their own spiritual direction in life. In fact, the more brilliant people are, the more skilled they are at developing rationalizations to deceive themselves and to hide from God. The story of Adam and Eve's hiding from God behind their skimpy clothes and even skimpier excuses is our common human experience. Paul's warning needs to be heard, and to be heard often, to warn us against our most brilliant self-delusions.
Paul then applies the agricultural principle of reaping what is sown: The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (v. 8). Here we are faced with a decision, a decision that determines our destiny. We are not victims of fate, bad luck or even predestination. Our destiny is determined by our decision: shall we sow to the sinful nature or to the Spirit? The old proverb is true: "Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."
Those who are sowing to please the sinful nature are destroying relationships with others: they are biting, devouring, provoking and envying others (5:15, 26). In their arrogance they are seeking to pressure everyone to conform to the same ethnic customs and traditions. Churches are being torn apart and destroyed by ethnic rivalries and social competition. Sowing to please the sinful nature will always result in a harvest of destruction, a destruction of relationships with others and with God.
Sowing to please the Spirit means "serving one another in love" (5:13), restoring one who has been caught in sin (6:1), carrying the burdens of others (6:2), giving generously to those who teach in the church (6:6) and doing good to all (6:9). Sometimes sowing to the Spirit has been defined in terms of private, personal holiness, as if it were something done in a closet by oneself. But sowing to the Spirit in the context of Paul's teaching here involves building love relationships with others. Sowing to the Spirit cannot be done in isolation or separation from others. Carrying the burdens of others requires in-depth participation in their pain and sorrow. As we see in verse 9, sowing to the Spirit means doing good to others. If sowing to the sinful nature means selfish indulgence, then sowing to the Spirit means selfless service. The harvest of sowing to the Spirit is eternal life. The meaning of eternal life must be understood within the "already-not yet" structure of Paul's thought in this letter. From Paul's perspective, Christians have already been delivered from the present evil age (1:4) and are already in the new creation (6:15). But the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature is not yet over (5:17). In Christ we already have new relationships with God and with one another: we now relate not as slaves but as children who call God Father (4:6-7); and we relate to one another not as people divided by racial, social and gender barriers but as people united in Christ (3:28). But since the battle between the Spirit and the sinful nature continues, we do not yet experience total harmony in these relationships. Those who continue to grow in these relationships by the power of the Spirit will ultimately experience the fullness of eternal life--perfect harmony in relationship with God and others.
Growth in our relationships does not happen automatically; growth takes effort. Hard work is required if broken relationships are to be rebuilt. In these two verses Paul simply encourages Christians to keep on working at building their relationships: Let us not become weary in doing good (v. 9). To say that Paul's emphasis on faith means that he was against works is obviously an inaccurate interpretation. Although he warned against relying on the works of the law as the basis of blessing (3:10-14), he clearly taught that true faith expresses itself through love (5:6) and in the hard work of serving one another (5:13) and carrying each other's burdens (6:2).
One of the greatest obstacles to rebuilding broken relationships is simply fatigue. We can easily lose heart and run out of strength when we come up against the same problems over and over again as we deal with others. Even Paul sounds discouraged when he talks about his efforts to rebuild his relationship with the Galatian believers: "I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you" (4:11). Paul recognized that fatigue and discouragement might cause Christians to throw in the servant's towel and quit. So he presents two incentives to keep us from giving up when we grow weary of serving others in love. First, he assures us of a reward for doing good: at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (v. 9). Sometimes the harvest is experienced in this life. When we sow acts of love, we reap a harvest of love in return. When we give generously and sacrificially to the needs of others, we reap a harvest of gratitude as those needs are met. When we sow the seed of God's Word in needy lives, we experience the joy of response. But we must remember that reaping a harvest almost never happens on the same day as sowing the seed. We may not even see a harvest in this life from what we have sown. Nevertheless, we must never give up, because we know that at the proper time our Master will return and reward those who have been faithful servants.
Second, Paul motivates perseverance in service to one another by reminding us that we are part of a great family: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (v. 10). Although there are no limits placed on the scope of our service to all people, our priority is certainly to serve the family of believers. Here Paul picks up a central theme of his letter. All believers are children of Abraham by faith in Christ, the seed of Abraham (3:6-29). All believers enjoy the full rights of the children of God (4:4-7). All believers are the true children of the free woman; the heavenly Jerusalem is our mother (4:21-31). These great truths about the family of believers should motivate us to keep on doing good to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We belong to one another in one family, since we belong to Christ.
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Date(s) - 04/28/2018
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
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Hello Gamers,
Feel free to hit me up on Saturday at noon (GMT -6) for some gaming with me and my friends.
We play anything from Factorio and Command and Conquer to Terraria and Planetary Annihilation.
Hit me up on TeamSpeak if you know the place, otherwise, feel free to meet me on Skype (JMegacycle).
We use Evolve or Hamachi to connect to each other so please have that installed and ready to go.
Be sure to check here to ensure you have the necessary applications installed so we can get playing right away.
Hope to see you there.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
DETROIT (AP) Don Kelly is on Detroit's postseason roster because he can play any position in the field, so it was with some irony that he stood at the plate - as the designated hitter - with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Kelly hit .186 during the regular season, but all the Tigers needed was a flyball.
``We need everybody here, all 25,'' Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera said. ``It's not only about one guy. I think when everybody's got a job, they have to try to do it.''
Kelly's sacrifice fly lifted the Tigers over the Oakland Athletics 5-4 Sunday for a 2-0 lead in their AL playoff series. Kelly entered the game as a pinch runner an inning earlier and scored the tying run on wild pitch. He stayed in the game in the DH slot, and with Detroit almost out of position players, Kelly delivered to put the Tigers one win closer to a second straight trip to the AL championship series.
``Was looking for a fastball and I got it,'' Kelly said. ``It's a great feeling, to be able to go out there in that situation and do that.''
Detroit overcame three A's leads and seesawed to victory. It was 1-all before a wild final three innings that included a key error by Oakland center fielder Coco Crisp, two game-tying wild pitches and several momentum changes.
Tigers reliever Al Alburquerque kept it tied in the ninth when he got Yoenis Cespedes to hit a comebacker with men on first and third and two outs. He gave the ball a little kiss before throwing underhand to first.
Omar Infante and Cabrera hit back-to-back singles off Grant Balfour with one out in the bottom half. With runners on first and third, Prince Fielder was intentionally walked, bringing up Kelly, who was designated for assignment in early August but returned to the Tigers less than a month later.
``He's one of the best guys in the clubhouse. We all love him,'' Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer said. ``For him, a utility guy, to get a hit like that, it's great.''
Kelly's fly to right was plenty deep enough to score Infante without a play at the plate. It was Kelly's first RBI since June and another big playoff moment for him - his home run last year helped the Tigers beat the New York Yankees in the decisive fifth game of the division series.
On Sunday, Kelly became the first player to score a run and have an RBI in a postseason game with no official at-bats since Baltimore's Gary Roenicke in Game 3 of the 1983 ALCS, according to STATS, LLC.
Detroit will go for a sweep of the division series matchup in Game 3 on Tuesday at Oakland. The Tigers lost to Texas in the ALCS last year.
The A's were left to lament a poor performance by their bullpen and some crucial mistakes in the late innings that allowed this game to slip away.
Cliff Pennington gave the A's the lead with an RBI single in the seventh, but Crisp dropped Cabrera's two-out flyball in the bottom half, allowing two runs to score.
Oakland tied it in the eighth on a wild pitch by Joaquin Benoit, and Josh Reddick followed with a solo homer to give the A's a 4-3 lead. Then it was Ryan Cook's turn to throw a tying wild pitch, allowing Kelly to score.
Pennington nearly came through again for Oakland in the ninth, but his deep drive down the left-field line was just foul.
``It was certainly a good game for the fans,'' A's manager Bob Melvin said. ``Both teams played hard. Both teams got big hits and did good things at the right moments, and both teams did some - made some mistakes that got the other team in the game.''
Alburquerque missed most of the season after offseason surgery on his throwing elbow. He came on to face Cespedes with the Tigers in a jam, and that one out was enough to earn him the win.
The right-hander said he wasn't trying to show up the A's when he gave the ball a smooch.
``I just did it,'' he said. ``It was the emotion of the game. I wasn't trying to be a hot dog.''
Reddick wasn't amused.
``We didn't appreciate that. I thought it was immature and not very professional,'' Reddick said. ``You don't do that on the field. Save it for the dugout. That's all I'm going to say.''
The A's have taken the lead four times in this series, but on each occasion they failed to hold it through the bottom half of the inning.
Doug Fister allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings for Detroit, striking out eight. Rookie Tommy Milone was impressive for the A's, allowing a run and five hits in six innings. He struck out six.
Fister gave the A's trouble early with his slow, sweeping breaking ball, but Oakland hit four singles in the third. Crisp's slow roller to third turned into an infield hit when Cabrera threw wide to first. Stephen Drew struck out looking - and had words for plate umpire Mark Wegner - but Cespedes followed with a run-scoring single.
Oakland nearly scored again on a single to right by Brandon Moss, but rookie Avisail Garcia threw Crisp out at home.
Cabrera hit a one-out double in the bottom of the third. He went to third on a single by Fielder and scored on a dribbler by Delmon Young that was too slow to be a double play.
NOTES: Balfour was charged with the loss. ... Oakland has struck out 23 times in the first two games. ... Benoit allowed 14 homers during the regular season, easily his most since 2004, when he spent some time as a starter. ... The A's are hoping LHP Brett Anderson is healthy enough to start Game 3 against Anibal Sanchez. Anderson missed the last couple weeks of the regular season because of a strained right oblique.


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Courage of Haitians "starts young," says U.S. nun who nursed hundreds
Sister Mary Finnick, a nurse who directs the Matthew 25 House in of Port-au-Prince, found that "the courage of the Haitian people starts young" when she opened an impromptu triage and treatment center in a nearby soccer field after the quake.
"The children, though crying, did not have temper tantrums and cooperated as much as is possible for a 3-year-old when you make a splint, clean out a head wound and debride backs and legs," Finnick said in a Jan. 13 e-mail.
"In all of this, we also hear the Haitian voices raised in song, praising God for being alive," she added.
Sister Mary said she, two other Matthew 25 staff members, six guests from Pennsylvania and New York, and three Haitian doctors treated 300 to 400 people in the hours after the magnitude 7 earthquake.
"We began to see some very horrible conditions caused primarily from the cement blocks, which most of the houses are built with, poor and rich alike," she wrote. "There were many head wounds, some so serious it surprised us the person was still alive. Most were deep wounds that should have been sutured, but we had no material to do that." When supplies ran out, "we finally cut up pillowcases for bandages," Sister Mary reported.
Matthew 25 House, established in 2005, provides hospitality to North Americans who come to Haiti with missionary or humanitarian organizations.
Although the downstairs of the house experienced no structural damage, Sister Mary said, the upper floors were affected and "the wall between us and the neighbor has quite a large hole." She encouraged medical teams that had been scheduled to come to Haiti not to change their plans. "There is a great need for medical supplies, suturing, betadine, analgesics ... everything ... and personnel to bring it," she said.
Earthquake claims first Haitian-born Salesian brother
One of the thousands of victims in the Haitian earthquake was Salesian Hubert Sanon, 85, the first Haitian to join the religious order as a brother.
Details surrounding Brother Hubert's death were unknown, but Rev. Mark Hyde, the executive director of the Salesian Missions, said Hubert died in the Salesian compound that houses the National School of Arts and Trade.
Concern also was growing for 200 students believed trapped in the rubble at the school. Father Hyde said he last heard from someone at the school at midday Jan. 13, minutes before cell phone service was disrupted.
Brother Hubert professed vows in 1947 and worked at the school's Lakay program for young adults and teenagers on the streets. The program tries to reunite the young adults with their families. For those unable to find their families, the program offers the young people a place to stay and teaches them a trade in preparation for employment.
Father Hyde said Brother Hubert was a graduate of the school and was so impressed with the work of the Salesians that he decided to join the order. The school's director, Salesian Father Atilio Stra, was seriously injured during the earthquake and the school and the surrounding compound suffered extensive damage.
'What is happening?'
Junior Sinsmyr thought Haiti had been attacked.
Sinsmyr, senior translator at an American-sponsored medical clinic in Port-au-Prince, was not exactly sure why his world was falling down all around him the evening after the earthquake hit.
Brent DeLand, a member of Christ the King Parish in Springfield, Ill., who established the SARTHE Medical Clinic, was on the phone with 24-year-old Sinsmyr when a major aftershock shook the Haitian capital.
"I was stunned when he answered the phone," DeLand said. "His response was 'What is happening?' He asked me what an earthquake was. I told him. I'm not sure he really understood what an earthquake was.
"Then he sort of understood and I asked 'What do you see?' He said, 'Well, I'm in the middle of the street. In all directions there are no buildings left."
"As we were talking the second aftershock hit and I knew it because I was watching it on CNN. He said, 'Oh, no, the world is shaking.' That was a fairly profound comment. I asked what was happening. I couldn't hear him because of all the screams and cries."
Then the line went dead.
As of Jan. 14, DeLand had not heard from Sinsmyr or anyone else from the clinic since the night of Jan. 12. He was hoping to travel to Haiti with a small group of volunteers on Jan. 16, as originally planned. They were expecting to address more routine medical procedures.
Aid worker finds scene from Dante's "Inferno"
"It looks like Dante's 'Inferno.'" That's how Mike Henry, Haiti project director for Cross International Catholic Outreach, described the scene in Port-au-Prince after the quake.
"There are dead bodies everywhere," Henry said in a Jan. 13 report from the Haitian capital. "It is hell on earth."
Jim Cavnar, president of the Catholic aid agency based in Pompano Beach, Fla., said the magnitude 7 earthquake "has done more than shake the earth. It has shaken the fragile hopes and dreams of the Haitian people, who just last year were the victims of devastating storms and flooding."
But even amid the devastation, there were signs of resilience.
"The girls were shaken up quite a bit when it happened," said an unnamed person who works with Cross Catholic, in a message to Cavnar, "but now they are playing with the kids of the parents who are staying in our home."


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Terence Corcoran, Financial Post
To hear the Conservatives tell the story, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has announced new budget principles that would create a new round of federal deficit spending. The Tory Web site, full of their typical putdowns of Mr. Dion, includes a visual suggesting a Liberal budget would sink Canada into "$62.5-billion in new debt."
It's just partisan gamesmanship. The Tories took a list of Mr. Dion's latest pronouncements on spending and his earlier fiscal comments, added them all together, and came up with a big number. Mr. Dion, and his finance-minister-in-waiting, John McCallum, quickly branded the Tories as thieves and liars, or something like that. Actually, Mr. Dion -- speaking yesterday in Montreal -- used the following phrases against the Tories: deliberate miscalculations, misrepresentations, misinformation, the epitome of desperation, and distortion of the facts.
I'd check the veracity of all this if I weren't already certain the Conservatives had done all of the above, and maybe more.
The Conservatives were too clever for there own good in this instance. A dash of arrogance, mixed with wild exaggeration and dicey math, the whole argument simply reaches to far, it insults the senses. There might be a point to the glossy book, but it gets lost in the bombastic, over the top, rhetoric.
One thing I have noticed, in every interview, in every response, is the confidence with which Liberals defend themselves. It's a stance rarely seen this days, completely dismissive on the one hand, denoting a sense of pride in reminding people of the record on the other. There is actually a "bring it on" posture, almost relishing the chance to point to the Conservatives ridiculous accusations. The best line of all, and one that Canadians can understand, the Liberals understand the challenges of operating with large deficits, the last thing in the world they would endorse is a regiment that would bring us back to that predicament. It is said with sincerity, it highlights a past positive, the Conservative attack brushed off with apparent ease.
These attacks were supposed to put the Liberals on the defensive, introduce the frame that Dion is a reckless spender, "not worth the risk". As this line develops, I would argue the Conservatives have actually presented a gift, an opportunity to point to a positive, which otherwise would have been seen as old news, a nothing reference. It is the Conservatives that increasingly look foolish, the argument is so extreme, it lacks believeability. The Conservative point men keep trying, but it isn't working. In fact if I were a Liberal strategist I would hope the Conservatives maintain the assault, it's actually turning out to be a delicious talking point.


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Johnny Depp turned "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" into a love fest on Monday when he kissed the host on the lips to thank him for complimenting his good looks.
The movie star appeared on the program to promote his new movie, "The Lone Ranger," and as he kicked off the TV interview, Kimmel acknowledged Depp's legions of loyal fans, who had lined up outside the Hollywood studio to catch a glimpse of the hunk's "beautiful face."
Flattered by the funnyman's choice of words, the actor leaned over and planted a smooch on his cheek before going back in for the real thing seconds later.
Kimmel mock-fanned his face as he continued with the segment, and when he introduced his second guest, actress Rebecca Romijn, he quipped, "I'll be honest, given the choice of making out with one of the guests tonight, I would have picked you."
The X-Men beauty followed Depp's lead and locked lips for a long kiss, again leaving Kimmel red-faced and flustered.