Exhortation: Do not give up: A look at Galatians 6 verse 9.

 Who wrote the epistle of Galatians?

The Epistle of Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul addressed to the Galatian churches in Asia Minor. Paul had a special interest in the Galatian Church because he was involved in the evangelizing of the saints and forming the church in the territory. 

So what does Galatians 6:9 mean?

Let's take a look at the text:

"Let us not be weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (NIV)

Some translations say 'do not lose heart'. One example of this is the NKJV - New King James Version:

 "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (NKJV)

Let's dissect the key phrase in the text --be weary, everything else in the verse is hinged on this:

"be weary" 

To 'be weary' or to 'grow weary' means to be exhausted in strength, to lose endurance or vigour. In the context of the scriptures, the Greek word used in the text here is ekkakeo (ehk-kah-keh-eo) which means to become loosened or untied; to drift aimlessly. The concept is that it is like a boat that becomes untied and drifts away from safety. The message then is that being weary can be dangerous for the believer, so this text was a warning to the Galatians and to us to take heed.  

Why is being weary dangerous?

If you look at it from a natural standpoint, if you are weary or tired, you will feel weak and you won't be able to do any physical work. If someone were to come to attack you it would be difficult for you to defend yourself and it would be easy for them to overpower you. 

In the spiritual context, if we become weary our spiritual guard can be down, presenting the enemy of our souls with an opportunity to deceive us or sow seeds of doubt, so if we're not careful we can be swayed by any "wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14-16). Weariness can lead to doubt, doubt leads to unbelief or wrong/false beliefs, and the Christian 'drifts' away from the truth.

When a person becomes weary they may allow things to slip up. They are usually on top of things; focused, but then something happens and they lose heart, become weary and discouraged, and stop doing the things they used to. They are no longer interested in taking part in church life. Their interest in church ministry wanes and they become distracted by other things. They might stop attending meetings, participating in church activities, and may even lose interest in reading the Bible. 

With a mindset like that how can anyone be motivated to do any good? 

But why is the apostle Paul saying this to the Galatians? What was happening back then?

 The church was growing but even in growth there were challenges.There was uncertainty on every side. Some false teachers had crept into the church and were spreading doctrine that was against the teachings of the apostle Paul and the other apostles. 

The false teachers' argument was that the Christians claim of living by grace and in freedom meant they were in fact reckless and living a lawless, sinful life. According to these 'teachers', the Law of Moses provided the proper way to worship God and live a holy life.

The early church also faced persecution from the Jewish leaders (pharisees, scribes, etc) who saw this belief in Jesus as a threat to their way of life: culture, customs, religious beliefs and would regularly send religious zealots to infiltrate the churches wherever they were hiding and bring back the Christians to Jerusalem for punishment. In fact, Paul was one of those henchmen sent by the Jewish leaders before his conversion (see Acts 9:1-19).  Because they faced persecution, especially from these religious leaders many Jewish Christian converts decided that the life of a Christian was too hard for them, so they turned away from the faith and went back to performing the rituals under the Mosaic Law. 

Some of these Jews also tried to convert the gentile Christian converts to that way of life. One of the rituals they insisted that the gentiles partake of was circumcision. The Jews however did not encourage circumcision because they were concerned for the souls of the gentiles. No, they did this because they wanted to appease the Jewish leaders. Paul makes it clear that these people did not care about the Galatians but about their own security. He says in Galatians 6:12:

"Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised, The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ." (NIV) 

What he is saying here is that the false teachers deep down knew that circumcision was just a superficial act of demonstrating righteousness on the outside, but does nothing for the inside -- the soul:

"Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh" (Galatians 6:13, NIV).

That way, they would not be thrown out of the Jewish synagogues, avoid persecution and the icing on the cake they would be seen as a loyal Jew for converting the gentiles to the Jewish religion.

How does this text apply to us?

Just like the early church, we have a choice to make. When times get really hard: when we are faced with illness, financial difficulty, or persecution because of our faith (at work or home, in our community) or even disappointments from our fellow believers. Are we going to give up or keep on pushing? 

The Galatians became easily swayed by the arguments of the Jews and left off from following what Paul and the other apostles had taught about salvation --which is in Christ alone. In writing verse 9, Paul is reminding them to stay the course to continue to live the righteous life they were called to live. To follow the teaching that he and the other preachers of the Gospel had given them and to shun all false teachings. They must continue to live a righteous and pure life trusting in Christ alone and to do good, knowing that in Christ they have their reward.

In these times, we too as believers will experience suffering and may feel tired, feel discouraged, lose heart and may say:

"Cho mi cyah bodda!"

But we must remember that Christ who is our hope also went through persecution, experienced suffering and may have felt discouraged, but never gave up. Let us use him as our example:

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

"Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:2,3 Berean Standard Bible)

Those two (2) phrases again show up in these texts "grow weary" and "lose heart".

Do not give up!

Remember, if ever we feel defeated or discouraged in this life, Christ himself faced challenges. He understands our pain, challenges and fears, and He is right here with us to help us by His Spirit to overcome every difficulty. Because He overcame, we can too. If we put our trust in Him and lay our burdens on Him, when we are weary He will renew our strength.

Remember He said: 

"...I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28: 20 KJV 

And...

" I will never leave you or forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 KJV 

Also: 

"I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you." (St. John 14:18 Berean Standard Bible)

He has also equipped us with the skills and the gifts we need to fulfill His purposes in us. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 7 and 8 reminds us that:

"...to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

If we "do not give up", He will take us through any challenging situation. 

Therefore, do not "be weary". Don't allow the situation you have found yourself in to way down your spirit. Let us take our challenges to God today, to Jesus our Heavenly Father for Him to help us with them. Let us continue to serve faithfully in the ministry or ministries and any other avenue that the Lord has placed us to be His faithful witnesses because we know that in due season He will lift us up:

"...we will reap a harvest (a blessing; reward) if we don't give up." Gal 6:9

We must be careful not to be swayed by any "wind of doctrine" that would blow us off course from believing that our hope is in Christ alone, and we do what we do (whatever it is we do) through Him and by His power. 

Thank you so much for reading this exhortation. I hope you have been blessed.