Repent, Sinner!

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.  Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,  for each one should carry his own load."-Galatians 6:1-5

I've read these verses over a dozen times in my life, and today it has a whole new meaning.  Yes, the Word of God is living and active.  Today, this is what I feel the Word is teaching me, accompanied with the raw material that life serves up, this isn't just an academic lesson here, it's real life..

"If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently."  If your attempts to restore your brother, or sister, is anything BUT gentle, then perhaps this means you are not as spiritual as you considered yourself?  Restore is not the same as enforce, guilt, shame or coerce.

"But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."  It just dawned on me, never realized till now that I had always taken this to mean the restorer should watch themselves or they would also be tempted to get caught in the same sin as the brother/sister they are trying to restore.  For example if I may be trying to restore a brother/sister who is caught in the sin of robbing banks, I should be careful because I may fall into the temptation to rob a bank too...But it doesn't say that. I think the temptation that HUGELY presents and seduces the one in the restoring role here is PRIDE, ARROGANCE AND SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is rooted in deception. When in all truth, it's merely one sinner gently trying to restore another sinner.  And when this person who is trying to do the restoring thinks otherwise, they are deceived.

How can one know if they are deceived and have fallen into the temptation to believe they are something when they are not?  Well, perhaps for starters, try going to the brother/sister in which they are trying to restore if they are coming across gently or not..who better to ask if you want the truth?  Go straight to the source.  This Scripture says each one should test his own actions, and I think it gives that warning because it is so easy to fall into the insidious temptation and deception that causes one to think they are restoring a sinner "in love" when it might not possibly be received like that.  So if you are trying to restore a brother or sister who is caught in sin, do it gently and watch YOURSELF closely to make sure you are not falling into temptation to think you are something when you are not, and test your own actions.  Be open, receptive and humble and go to the brother/sister in whom you are trying to gently restore, and ask them how your restoration project is felt to THEM.

In this life, we will all take turns playing the role of the one who is called to gently restore a brother or sister struggling or caught in sin, and the one who is on the receiving end of being restored from sin.  This is a beautiful and loving way that Scriptures instructs us in how to deal with those delicate situations that provide raw material for so much growth, both for the one caught in sin AND the one who comes to gently restore.