When God gives us a spiritual gift, He doesn’t take it back. ‘The gifts and…calling of God are irrevocable.’ And if God does not, we must not! Paul writes: ‘If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived’ (Galatians 6:1-3 MSG). When a brother or sister in Christ goes astray, the Bible tells us what we must do; lovingly confront them, gently correct and counsel them, and cover them. The Bible says, ‘Love will cover a multitude of sins’ (1 Peter 4:8 NKJV). Now the word ‘cover’ doesn’t mean ‘cover up’; it means provide a place of shelter and restoration where they can be made whole. Is restoring someone sometimes messy? Yes, especially if they have hurt others and brought embarrassment to the family of God. But that’s the point…They are still our spiritual family! The world is watching to see how we handle this. If we throw away those among us who stumble, why would the world turn to us for help? Jesus healed a blind man by rubbing clay in his eyes and telling him to go and wash it off in the pool of Siloam. How far away was the pool? We don’t know. But he needed someone to hold his hand and walk with him until he reached it and his sight was restored. And that’s what we have been called to do.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.