Galatians 6:1-5
"bear and share the burdens"
Paul starts this passage off by giving instruction to the Christians in Galatia. This instruction is: if you see a person, esp a fellow christian, fall into sin through temptation, not deliberated sin, then rebuke them through kindness and gentleness, showing them what is right. this should not be done by just any believer, nut by one that is stronger in the faith. This person that is doing the rebuking and teaching must, however, avoid being tempted into the same sin again. the stronger christians must also not merely sit back and watch the struggling Christian brother struggle, but must also do what he can to lighten the burden and share the load.
one thing a stronger christian must not do is think himself better than those who are younger or weaker in their faith. if anyone thinks he is something special, he deceives himself and is therefore nothing. sounds kinda harsh, yes, but consider that the yardstick by which we measure ourselves is not each other, but God. in that respect we all measure up the same - not even visible on the graph of righteousness.
Paul finishes off this passage by saying that each is responsible for his own load. personally, i think this saying that each person is responsible for how they live their lives - there is no piggybacking on Billy Graham or dragging your satanist best friend up into heaven; they must all carry themselves and their burdens up to God at the end for judgment and only those who measure up to God's standards can enter heaven*.
* that is, no one can measure up to God's standard, which is why God sent Jesus to become the sin offering for us to God. this allows us now tobe able to go to heaven now because through the sacrifice (which was a proper sacrifice according to the Jewish laws) we have been made righteous enough to meet God's standard.
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