Galatians 6:1
“Brothers, if
anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should
restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”
Have you ever been caught in any transgression, now the
question is not have you transgressed, for the Scripture is clear; “for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) the
question is have you been caught? Before
you reply, has there been a time when you were disobedient to your parents,
teachers, bosses, or even to your own moral standards, and you got caught? Has there been a time of indiscretion in your
relationships with your mate, the partner you vowed to honor till death parted
you? Have you been caught in wrongdoing
in your business life, and if so, how did your brothers and sisters in Christ
restore you? Maybe you were not restored,
in fact you may have ran from your family both at church and at home, because
you were full of pride, and yet time has passed and you need someone to restore
you. In fact, maybe you did not get
caught, but have a flesh pattern that is isolating you from God and your family
and friends in Christ.
I knew a young man new in the faith, he was excited about
being a new creation in Christ, but had no understanding of what that
meant. In his enthusiasm he was eager to
do great things for God, having no understanding that it was God who wanted to
do great things through him. So in his
exhilaration he began to teach teenagers at his church the deeper things of
God, but he had one big problem, he was teaching or talking about areas of life
in which he had no understanding. It was
amazing as I recall how God used this young man and his wife to increase the
class both in number and in spiritual growth.
It was not long before one of his mentors ask him to lead out in a
movement outside of his church called the “Lay Witness Mission” it began with a
vision from a man named Ben Campbell Johnson, to the Methodist church, and God
blessed it and this young man. His
mentor had modeled a transparency and a dependence about asking God to open the
hearts of both the team that would go to the church and the church they would
go to for a weekend of watching God do great things through sharing their
faith. Once more, God was blessing the
willingness of this young man, and others were taking notice of what God was
doing.
It was not long before he was ask to serve as a deacon in his
church, but God was not in this, and God made it clear to this young man not to
accept the responsibility, but the young man was also listening to other
voices, the voice of men, and the voice in his mind that sounded like his own
voice; he would learn much later it was the deceptive channel of the enemy of
his soul. The young man began to become
judgmental, and over time very prideful, and he tuned to the deceptive channel
more and more for it was telling him what he wanted to hear.
If you had ask this young man if he was walking in the Spirit,
he would have said I hope so, but in his heart he knew that was not true. He began to believe that his wife was not up to
the task of leading others in the lay movement, and began to ask more qualified
ladies to work with him. This backfired,
and it was not long before indiscretion in his relationships was discovered,
and this young man’s pride would not let anyone near him. But God, I find so much pleasure in those two
words. Yes, Jesus’ Spirit who lived in
this young man had not given up on him, and his wife had not given up on him,
and a man who had been drawn to Christ under the young man’s testimony, was
used of God to restore him in a spirit of gentleness. I am that young man!
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment