Here’s a fact: nobody else can eat for you. They can cook the meal, set the table, cut your food, and even bring it to your mouth. But when it comes to chewing and swallowing, you’re on your own.

Spiritual growth works the same way. Apostle Paul delivers a sharp line in Galatians 6:3: “If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We can easily fool ourselves into thinking we’re good and strong by coasting on someone else’s faith, someone else’s spiritual disciplines, someone else’s good works. Community is a gift, but we will not stand before God as a group.

No, as verse 5 points out, each one will bear the responsibility for his own load. In other words, your community can walk beside you. Your pastor can pour into you. But one day you will stand before God, and nobody will stand with you. That will be the most alone you have ever been.

Therefore, in verse 4, Paul calls us to honest self-examination. Test your own work. Not your spouse’s. Not your neighbor’s. Not your small group leader’s. Yours. Only then will you get the right perspective, and only then can you assess how it’ll go when you stand before God.

You must own your own faith and walk your own walk. May your Lord be pleased when you see Him face to face!

Change begins in you!