Gal. 6:4-5 - Examine Your Own Work

4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.
5 For each one will bear his own load.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

This is the beginning of the end of the letter. Paul has one more paragraph with instructions for Christian living, and then on to the closing notes.

Vs. 4 - “But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.”

- “each one must examine his own work” - Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t even try to self-analyze. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of your sin. You will not be judged because of what someone else did. You alone are responsible for your sin. (See: Ezek. 18:20; John 21:21-22)
Campus Crusade for Christ has a booklet “Have You made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life”. As you go through it you will learn several things about living an abundant life:

• What is preventing you from living such a life;
• The promise made by Jesus to us;
• How to be filled and and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The promise is discovered by sincerely desiring to have an abundant life, controlled by the Holy Spirit;
• Confessing your sins;
• By faith Claiming the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The keys: sincerity in the desire to please God in all respects; confessing the sin to which the Holy Spirit convicts you.
Confessing your sin is basically two-fold: agreeing with the Holy Spirit the actions were offensive to the Lord, and Repenting - i.e., turning away from those sins to do them no more.

Examining your own work is not a casual exercise. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in scrutinizing, studying, and testing your actions compared to what the scripture says.

“he will have reason for boasting” - Sarcasm alert! Paul himself indicated that if anyone had a reason to boast, it was him. He was a perfect Jew - in worship, in the Law, in education. (Phil. 3:4-7) Yet, he realized that all those accolades were worth no more than manure. The only thing we can boast in is the Lord. (1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17) If anything we should be talking about our weaknesses! That Jesus has taken care of them. (2 Cor. 12:5) It is Christ and Jesus Christ alone in whom we can boast. He loved us first. He died for our sins, all of us, all of our sins. His resurrection shows we too can have etearnal life.

Vs. 5 - “For each one will bear his own load.”

“each one will bear his own load” - This statement is not a contradiction of v. 2 (see above) which urges us to help each out in times of trouble. If a member of our church suffers a loss, and illness, or injury, we are to help them through so they can get back on their feet.
This verse is a warning to us. We must answer for our behavior - that is our load. Our sin is our load. Note: when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior ALL of our sins are covered. He has paid the price in full. However, we will be judged by Jesus for our behavior as Christians. This is not judged in the sense your salvation is in peril.
We will face Jesus at the Judgement Seat of Christ and our works will be judged. (See: 2 Cor. 5:10) No one else will stand in for you.

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