James 5:19-20
If you ever get a chance, take a few moments and research how and why ships lose their way at sea. I don’t want to be a big spoiler, but I’ll give you a teaser – NO ONE KNOWS. Obviously, that was more than a teaser, but no one knows why ships wander, why they get lost, or what happens to their navigational tools. It’s a mystery of sorts. The only thing we are sure of is that it happens.
Like ships lost at sea we sometimes begin to wander and get lost. Have you ever been having a conversation with someone and your mind suddenly begins to wander and you yank yourself back into focus? Why did it happen? NO ONE KNOWS. The only thing we are sure of is that it happens.
As believers not only do our minds wander, but there are times when we stray from the path God has set before us. All of us. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s path to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” (Emphasis mine)
When that happens we need people that are more interested in our restoration than the fact that we made a mess. Making a mess is inevitable, restoration is intentional. It’s the kind of attitude expressed in Galatians 6:1, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
The word trespass literally means a lapse or deviation. The same as wandering. How those around us respond to our deviation helps determine how we recover after we wander. We save a soul when we choose to restore rather than condemn.
Photography: @jacobnnorris
Recent Comments