Restore him

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. – Galatians 6.1

The last section of Paul’s letter to Galatia is chock full of how to apply the principle of letting our liberty give us opportunities to love and serve each other. 

Here is a wonderful example at the very start of chapter 6. 

What do we do when a brother falls and gives in to a temptation? Do we kick him while he is down? Do we proudly use him as an example of what happens if you don’t obey the rules? 

I am around a little while now. I have seen far too many cases where a brother stumbles or slips up or is 'overtaken in a trespass' and then, when he he needs Christians the most, is kicked to the kerb. We must be the only army that gleefully shoots it's wounded. That kind of fits in to the conceit and provocation we read about yesterday doesn't it? 

When we kick our fallen we make a terrible mistake. No, let me rephrase that. It is pure wickedness for us to kick our fallen. Paul says here that we are to restorethem. Not only that, he says that we are to do it gently. 

It is that gentle bit that seems to be especially difficult. We like to see him restored, but some times it seems that we are not going to see him restored before we really punish him to his fall. 

We had better be careful. The reason for their gentle restoration is that we may one day be in his position. We may also be overtaken and when we realise it and repent we are going to want gentle restoring for ourselves.