Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1
No One Is Too Far Gone...
What are those things in your life that you never thought you might do – but now you are caught in the middle of? It is always those things that Satan uses to catch us when we are not expecting it. He likes to surprise us, but not in a good way. To be caught in sin, is not the same as contemplating and planning to sin. It is the sin that slips up that you did not see coming.
We are weak in our flesh, even though we may think we are strong. We can do all the right things – go to church, read our Bible, teach a class, but we can still get “caught” if we are not intentionally vigilant against the weaknesses we have – and the ones we don’t think we have. There is nothing that Satan likes more than to see a Christian fail, especially if we bring another one down with us.
The beautiful thing about having a relationship with Christ is that He does not discard us when we sin against Him. He simply waits for us to come back to Him to be restored. He knows we are weak, and He knows we will fail. He provided for that in the salvation He gifted us with the sacrifice of His Son: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2 NASB I love the next two verses in the Message translation: God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. Romans 8:3-4 the Message
God went for the jugular for us. He was ferocious for us against sin. He took it out because He knew the power that sin can have over us, and He wants us to be free from that forever when we become His child. It is exactly what any of us would do for our own children if they were in danger.
In church we have our brothers and sisters in Christ – who we love. There may be some that we don’t love a lot, but we tolerate each other, and we fellowship together, and we even grow together. Paul is talking to the Christians in Galatians, and he is telling them that there will be those in the fellowship that get caught in sin. They may even be blinded to it themselves. Sometimes when we are in the middle of a mess, we don’t even see the mess. Paul’s intention here is not that we kick those Christians out of our fellowship when we see they are caught in sin. His message to us is that we go to them in love. We love them and we do what we can to help them get out of whatever they are caught up in.
The key word here is love. Look at the verses above that speak about how God sees us and what He does for us when we get caught up in sin. Remember, we are talking about Christians, not hardened sinners. This is a Christian who finds themselves trapped in a place they never thought they would be. The idea is that it is not the deliberate, or planned sin that is stressed here, but rather the unexpected situation we can find ourselves in. This is a mistake that is a surprise to the one who finds themselves caught due to the weakness of the flesh.
Just as God gave us the gift of fellowship, He gave us the task of taking care of one another. The last thing we need when we are caught in sin is condemnation and even God does not condemn. If you cannot restore in a spirit of gentleness, then you are not the person to do it. It also bears highlighting that it says you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. If you are caught in sin yourself, you should probably not be the one to restore your friend.
We are all weak, no matter how strong we think we are. Nothing will remind us of that faster than Satan as he blindsides us with a sin that so easily entangles us. No one is too far gone for us to walk alongside them to help them get out of whatever they are tangled up in. Restoration is always the goal. God is a God of second chances… and third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh too. His desire is always for us to return to Him, and He wants us to have every opportunity to do just that.
Do you know someone who needs some help because they are caught in transgression? If you do, pray first and ask God for the right spirit and to not be judgmental. Then talk to them in love and gentleness, pray for them, and let them know you are with them all the way through.
