"Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."
merciful relationship
Sometimes people have a view of
God as a mean old man in the sky waiting
to pounce on them when they do wrong.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Early in Genesis we have record of God’s mercy in the face of utter
destructive decadence and we see His mercy in the face of human arrogance and
cruelty. Many sight Him as vengeful,
without taking note that these “vengeful acts” are responses to lifestyles and
actions that were terribly destructive to other human beings. God’s acts mercifully terminated further
human destruction and defilement.
You may be wondering, how does this relate? It relates because we are followers of
Christ, who is the express image of Father God, who operates in merciful
relationship. We too must operate in
merciful relationship. As human beings
in the midst of a fallen world, we must understand that we are ALL susceptible
to deception and sin. There is reason
for us to be humble!
If I really grasp that, then when a brother or sister
in Christ sins, my response will not be, “I can’t believe they …” I
believe it. Given the right circumstances,
and especially if on my own, I might have wandered into doing the same thing! We all have potential to be “wicked”. Therefore we all need both instruction and
relationship—and the humility to receive it.
We need to be bound together in love for teaching, truth, accountability
and help: this will help us avoid
wandering away from truth in our own error.
Paul wrote to the Galatians because they were turning
away from the true simple gospel they had received. His letter is an example of how to turn a
sinner from the error of their way:
offer grace and peace, glorify God, speak with honesty, address the
history, give the reasons, be an example.
We are to help restore others in a spirit of humility, knowing we too
could fall into sin.
Sin rarely, (if ever), affects only the sinner. Still, even if harmed by someone else’s sin,
I must forgive or else I risk two things: 1)Suggesting to them that they are
beyond forgiveness, thus imparting despair and 2)becoming separated from God
myself because of my own unforgiveness.
Let us all humbly
offer to one another the grace and peace of Jesus.
Read
and Pray: 2 Corinthians
2:5-10, Galatians 6:1-3, Jude 20-25
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