Galatians 6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. I. THE FALSE STANDARD OF CHARACTER. There is a very common mode of judging of ourselves and our friends which is in itself utterly false and unsatisfactory; I mean that mode of estimating character and works, not by what these are in themselves, but by what they are in comparison with the life of others. "I may not be what I ought to be," a man says; "but, side by side with my neighbour, I have no cause to be ashamed." The picture seems fairer if it has a dark background; and we fall into the habit of measuring our own goodness by other men's want of goodness. Instead of making conscience the standard of duty, they practically make other men's want of conscience the standard. They have no sorrow or compunction for anything they have done or left undone, so long as they can point to others who are more to blame than themselves — as if health were to be measured, not by the pulse and vigour of the patient, but by the feverishness and insensibility of another patient lying at his side! II. THE TRUE STANDARD OF CHARACTER. Let every man prove his own work; let him test it on its own merits and for its own sake; and let it be judged, not by the indolence and failures of others, but by its own character and worth. This method of judgment, whereby every man must; prove his own work, is in accordance with facts of the spiritual world; for "every man must bear his own burden." The character is the outcome of a man's life and labours. What the man is, is really the fruit of what he does, and of what he thinks and speaks day by day. The character of every man is the measure of his works. The character will continue to tell what a man's life has been, and what in its inmost nature it continues to be. And in this matter each man bears his own burden — a burden in which others may sympathize, but which no human sympathy can relieve him of. God has made visible in man His eternal law, that every man's own work is proved, so as to give him rejoicing or sorrow, as the case may be, in himself, and not in another. And there is all the more need to test and prove our own work, that the time for doing our work is fast passing away. Our influence is gradually, and in modes unnoticed and unseen, pervading all around us; and that influence for good and evil is what we are responsible for. (A. Watson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.WEB: But let each man test his own work, and then he will take pride in himself and not in his neighbor. |
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