James 5:19-20 (TPT)
Finally, as members of God’s beloved family, we must go after the one who wanders from the truth and bring him back. For the one who restores the sinning believer back to God from the error of his way, gives back to his soul life from the dead, and covers over countless sins by their demonstration of love!
Sometimes we think that love means we don’t point out someone else’s faults. We think that by glossing over errors or faults we are avoiding hurting the other person’s feelings. After all, love is supposed to feel good, right? It sounds good, but it’s not the truth. The truth is that love doesn’t allow another person to come to harm. If you love someone, you seek to protect them–not to protect them from the truth, but to protect them from harm.
When someone has an addiction, it is not loving to enable them to continue in their addiction. You know their addiction will cause them harm. In some cases, it may even cost them their life. The loving thing is to point out the harm they are doing and to do everything possible to help them leave their addiction and all its harm behind. The same is true with sin.
When we see another person committing sin, we know that they are being spiritually harmed by that sin. It’s up to us, then, to point out the damage their sin is causing them. Satan’s only weapon is deception. He’s a master at getting us to rationalize our sin. As a result, many of us can have huge blind spots when it comes to our own shortcomings. It takes a person who really loves us to point out that we are on the wrong path and help us get back on to the right one. As members of the same family, we are called to love each other the way God loves us. God doesn’t leave us alone in our sin. His Spirit tells us when we are wrong, convicting us of wrongdoing. To love others like God loves us means that we don’t let them continue in their sin as well without giving them the opportunity to get back on the right path.
Father, I thank you that you love us enough to keep us from harm. I thank you that your Holy Spirit speaks to us and convicts us from sin. You don’t leave us wandering down the wrong path. You want to keep us safe and in communion with you. Help me to be watchful over my brothers and sisters. Help me to have the courage and love to speak out when I see someone headed down the wrong path, but also help me to be humble about my own condition so that I don’t fall into the trap of having a judgmental spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Beautiful Mess 