Hello blessed child of God, I hope you’re fine by God’s grace and I hope you’re starting your week in a wonderful way.
As for me, I’m fine by God’s grace and I’m so excited for the new week in The Lord.
I’ve been asking myself these days about mercy. These latest months God taught me alot about His forgiveness and His mercy.
I realized that as Christians we preach God’s Word and we really want the best for others in The Lord, but for a good number of us, we’ve not left space for “failure”. We don’t have a plan in case of failure.
Let me explain myself. We teach clearly how important it is to serve God and to obey Him, but we’ve not prepared ourselves for what we’ll do if a Christian falls.
We know God’s Word which says that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
We know this but when our brothers and sisters in Christ fall our first reaction isn’t always to try to bring them back and pray for them but first to judge, backbite, hate and reject them.
To be honest I’m no different. I’m guilty of this too. Judging and condemning when a true Christian falls, saying that they lied all through about their ministry, that they’re hypocrites.
It’s not difficult for us Christians to accept that non-christians can sin. When we hear about their deeds we welcome them into our church and we talk to them about God’s mercy and forgiveness and we help them to get back on track.
However, when it’s other Christians who sin, our Pastors, our team leaders, our best friends at Church we automatically forget about God’s mercy and were like:
“How could you do this and bring such a snare on the name of Jesus?”
At that moment, we’re good at judging and we forget everything about God’s grace and mercy. We shun them without even trying to know if they have repented and if they’re trying to come back to God. We don’t want to know what pushed them into drugs, we don’t want to know what pushed them to steal, and how to help hem stop. We don’t even want to help them with accountability, we don’t think of any of these. Our first reaction is hatred and judging.
I remember something very interesting that our lead Pastor at Elevation Church Pastor Steven Furtick once said :
“When I hear about a Pastor who fell in sexual sin, my reaction isn’t how stupid is he? Or how could he do something so stupid? My reaction is had it not been God’s grace, that would be me”
I was challenged by this. Sincerely.
Joyce Meyer wrote in one of our books, I’ll try to recall it the best way:
“Most people already feel bad for their sins and don’t need to be reminded it. When I hear of someone who sinned I don’t know how hard the person resisted before they fell, I don’t judge. If you fall you have to repent and get up as if you never fell and continue your race.”
If you’re honest with yourself you’ll realise that it’s God’s grace which saved you, not your efforts. Which means that it’s God’s grace which sustains you.
Had it not been God’s grace it would have been you on drugs, or you a prostitute, or you a murderer.
Not to say that it’s God’s fault if some people sin. No, everyone is responsible for their own choices. But you have to admit that there were times where you would have made completely wrong choices and God preserved you.
Take 5 minutes and imagine. What if I did a really huge mistake ? What if I did something horrible and really regretted it? How would I want my church family to treat me?
Would I want them to listen to me and forgive me and pray for me, surround me and help me become better ?
Or would I want them to shun me and hate me just like I do when I hear of a Christian who fell into sin?
The same mercy that God showed towards us is the same mercy He expects us to show each other in Christ.
Don’t say that because they sinned they were a fake Christian in the first place. There are Pastors who really loved God but who fell into alcoholism. The fact that they’re a Pastor doesn’t change the fact that they can fall, they’re not flawless. This is not to defend sin but to recall that God hates sin but loves the sinner.
So long as they’re willing to repent, get surrounded and grow in The Lord, who are you to ignore them and throw stones at them while you too you’re struggling with sin and needing God’s mercy everyday?
I love the way Pastor Steven Furtick highlights in his book Crash The Chatterbox that being in God’s presence doesn’t guarantee that you’ll never sin and you’ll never make stupid choices. If that were a guarantee, then Adam and Eve would never have sinned by eating the forbidden fruit. Since they were in God’s presence.
I am challenged by how Jesus dealt with the adulterous woman in the Gospels.
John 8:3-11 ESV
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Some people say:
“If we don’t judge them and ignore them then we are encouraging them to continue sinning”. If Jesus thought that, then He would have shunned everyone on earth because it would encourage all of us to continue sinning.”
Instead He stood for us and died for our sins. He used a different approach than the approach we all use. He made sure to welcome every sinner. That’s why even today, you who pretends to be the best Christian on earth because you’ve been serving God for 20 years, that’s why even today when you confess your sins to Him He still forgives you because His approach is that of grace.
What you couldn’t do in your own strength, God did for you. That’s grace.
The Bible gives us a clear approach to what to do when a brother or sister in Christ sins and you find out about it. The first reaction isn’t to throw the person away but to go to them in love to tell them about the sin and for The Holy Spirit to convict them through you. It is a whole process, and if they don’t listen to you, you keep involving more Christian elders in the whole equation.
You “let them go” only if they’ve clearly indicated that they won’t repent and that they don’t care about God’s Word anymore. But you always have to start by giving them “a chance”.
It’s virtually what’s explained in Matthew 18
Matthew 18:15-17 ESV
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Galatians 6:1 NIV
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Luke 17:3-4 NIV
So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Give them a chance to repent. Don’t first throw stones and start saying that they had never been Christians in the first place.
The same mercy which you want to be shown to you, show it to others.
Prayer
Father Lord God Almighty, I thank You so much for You forgive my sins, even those I hide from everyone but which I confess to You in secret. You know them yet You forgive me. Help me show this same grace and mercy to other Christians who just like me make mistakes and need to be reminded that God is still ready to forgive and that His Word is still able to transform our hearts and that His Holy Spirit is still able to correct us and help us obey Him. Help me not get proud but humble because it’s not by my power nor by my strength that I walk in Your ways, it’s by Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus Christ’s Name I pray. Amen
It’s Now Your Turn
Is there someone you rejected because of their sins? A brother or sister in Christ with whom you used to serve God together but who fell? Try to pray for them and ask God what He would like you to do. Let us know in the comments section what you think of today’s blogpost.
Also please let us know if you’ve been a victim of lack of mercy within your Christian community.
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Thank you so much for reading
God bless you
Victoria Eyog
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