How To Restore People Found In Sin

Have you ever seen someone break an arm?

(Or maybe you’ve broken an arm, yourself!)

What’s the first thing that happens? He or she cradles the broken limb in pain. And anyone who comes to help is extremely tender and gentle as they help.

Keep this idea in mind as you read today’s devotional verse:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Galatians 6:1 ESV

You see, the word “restore” in this verse means to reset a dislocated limb or broken bone. So, Paul is writing about dealing gently and tenderly with brothers and sisters in Christ who fall to sin.

However, when you’re setting a broken bone, you also must be firm, direct, and strong.

The process is called fracture reduction. The doctor’s goal is to get the broken ends of the bones as close together as possible. They must also be aligned.

This way, the bones can grow back quickly and properly.

How To Restore A Brother Or Sister In Christ

This is a perfect metaphor for how to restore a brother or sister in Jesus.

We must be gentle, tender, and understanding. However, we aren’t simply supposed to cradle their broken limb without helping set it back in place.

There is a call to putting away sin—and as God’s family we help one another do so.

Paul also reminds those who are “spiritual” to keep free from pride! Because the treachery of sinful hearts is that the very thing we condemn we often fall guilty of.

Restoring a brother or sister in Jesus is like setting a bone: gentle in diagnosing, firm and biblically aligned in resetting.

Ask yourself today:

• Am I a gracious person who people can confess sin to without fear I will inflict more damage on them?
• Is there anyone in my faith family caught in sin who needs restored?
• Have I fallen into the same sin I’ve condemned in other people?