THE EDGE OF DISASTER
Galatians,6:1
Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.
Is it better to hurt someone's feelings and save them from suffering or just let them, walk off the ledge and face the consequences?
7 years ago... what a hunt... What an eventful evening... first a long afternoon of sitting in a deer blind with Linda. Not much deer movement except for a few high on a neighbor's ridge. Then, right before dark not one but two huge ten point bucks entered the field. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, one of them offered her a shot.
After watching the buck run off, with darkness setting in we approached the area and found blood. A quick tracking job ended when the blood trail abruptly disappeared at the edge of a creek bank. Carefully looking over the edge, I could see her buck 20 feet below in running water. The problem was that both Banks were nearly vertical with an undercut bank on our side.
After it was completely dark, Linda, Micah and I reviewed the predicament over and over again. At one point I looked up and noticed Micah walking up onto the undercut bank. I yelled for him to get back. He was surprised and it hurt his feelings. I explained that I was not upset... I was frightened that he was about to fall 20 feet into ice cold running water. I had no option... if I love Micah, I had to stop him.
It's the same spiritually. Correction is not a nice, easy thing at times; it's a necessary hard job. If a friend or family member's life goes off-course and remains headed in that wrong direction, it can result in a disaster of damage to our spiritual walk. Because of this, God requires every believer to be involved in the ministry of correction. Very often a loved one is off course and doesn't even know it. They could be dangerously close to falling of a cliff that could have long-term effects to their spiritual life. We must correct that person in love.
We may be afraid to confront a friend, we may feel guilty over our own sins or we might just be non-confrontational... we have no excuse. Galatians 6:1 doesn't say that it's one of our options... no, "you who are spiritual restore".
I've read that when people rank their greatest fears, the fear of public speaking is first, followed by the fear of death. I'm sure that the fear of confronting someone who is in sin would be somewhere near the top of the list.
What do we have to fear? What we have to gain is the restoration of a brother or sister. Don't back down, do what it takes... step in
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