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Gentle Restoration

Gentle Restoration

Words of Faith 7-3-19

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2019

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Galatians 6

[1] Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  

 

      The sad truth is that just when we think we are walking right in step with the Spirit, we can find ourselves caught in a sin.  Paul's wording was very precise here.  He was not saying if you "catch" someone in a sin.  We are not to be snooping about looking for sin. He was saying that believers are sometimes caught in sin.

      The word Paul used here describes a believer who is literally "surprised by a sin" or is "taken ahead of you."  The image is that of a running team that sees one runner up ahead who stumbles and falls to the side.  That runner did not intend to fall, but they did.

      Paul was not really talking about matters of habitual sin, "the sins that so easily entangle us" (Hebrew 12:1).  Certainly, stumbling can become a habit.  But what Paul described here is the sort of fall that can happen to almost anyone and may have dire consequences.  He was also not talking about stumbling blocks set in our path.  This word describes a fault that flares up along the way.  

      This word for "sin" is singular and describes an unintentional slip, lapse, side-step, or deviation.  While this is undoubtedly a willful transgression, it reflects the air of a mistake or error.  No one walking in step with the Spirit ever sets out to stumble.  That was not their goal.

       In such situations, those who are spiritual, those walking in step with the Spirit, should restore that person gently.  The runners stop for the one who stumbled.  Paul called for those who are keeping in step with the Spirit not to move on but rather to stop and gently restore such a fellow believer. 

       We might be tempted to think that such situations are only minor oversights or minuscule flaws, but Paul recognized that even an unintentional slip can be an enormously damaging event.  The word Paul used for restoration is a medical term used to describe putting a joint back in place.  A slip or "lapse" can cause a very severe dislocation in the Body of Christ.

       The word for restore means to completely and thoroughly repair.  It means to adjust and fit back into place.  It means "to restore perfectly to fit and framing," like a door knocked off its hinges is refitted and hung perfectly. 

       And we are to do this gently.  This is not a matter of gloating accusation or prideful lording over.  No one wants a dislocated shoulder to be handled in a manner that is anything less than gentle.  It is not just a concern for that person but for the whole Body, which experiences pain in such a time of injury.

       The gentleness of which Paul speaks is the fruit of the Spirit.  It is not at all a matter of weakness or a lack of firm accountability where needed. The Greek word means specifically to do such work of restoration with great humility and meekness.  Restoration is not about the one helping.  It is all about the Body and all about the fallen one. It is not about pride, criticism, or false spirituality.

       Another sad truth is that the church has been much more prone to discard the fallen runner than stop and help.  A process of gentle restoration can be complicated and require great care.  Many have seen it as easier to simply judge and write off people.  Restoration is work.  Restoration requires earnest prayer, comfort, encouragement, and help in moving forward.  Restoration often requires a strategy for repairing damage and renewing a believer's walk with God.  Far too often, it has been easier to discard the wounded rather than restore them.

       Restoration may take many forms.  Sometimes it is a formal process, but many times it is literally a matter of approaching a friend in humility to help them dust off and rise above failure.

       Is there someone near you who has fallen?  Is there someone who needs gentle restoration?  Or perhaps you have fallen.  Do you need to ask a Christian friend to help restore you gently?

 

       Lord, help me to have an eye open for the difficult places on the path.  Keep me in step with Your Spirit.  Show me how to stop.  Teach me how to help.  Strengthen me to lift and encourage in humility.  In Jesus' Name.

 

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

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