Restoring Fellow Believers

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one
in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1 

This verse is talking about the Christian walk and how we should try to “restore” other Christians when they have fallen into sin. In reading this verse, we see that we are to do it in the spirit of meekness, “…..restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;….”  So, we are to approach the person humbly, not proudly or arrogantly. If we find ourselves thinking, “I can’t believe he/she did that! Even I know better than that.”, every time we see someone struggling, we’d better watch out. We could be about to fall ourselves. I Corinthians 10:12 says, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  We should always keep in mind that we could very well be in their position if it weren’t for the grace of God. The last part of the verse says, “…considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

We should also be careful, when we’re “helping” someone, that we don’t fall into the sin ourselves. So many Christians, when they go to “help” another Christian in their sin, find that they are not strong enough spiritually. Too often, they are pulled down into the sin rather than helping the person out of it. Their good intentions were to “help” but they ended up in the sin themselves. These verses were a good reminder to me that when I approach a struggling Christian to help them, I do so in “the spirit of meekness” while realizing that it could be me. But, also that I make sure that I am strong enough spiritually. Sometimes, all we can do is lift them up in prayer and trust God to send someone spiritually stronger than us to help restore them.

~ Bethany ~