There But for the Grace of God…

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”…..”Judge not, that ye be not judged”.  Galatians 6:1; Matthew 7:1

We have all heard said or said ourselves when seeing someone in a desperate situation, “There but for the grace of God go I”.  This statement is uttered by those who are aware that it could be them the next time something happens to affect life negatively.  It is never a good idea to criticize or judge another’s dilemma because, first of all, it is not the Christian thing to do, and second of all, we never know what a day may bring to our lives.  Being judgmental is of the flesh.  Paul had just warned the believers in Galatia to not let the flesh rule their hearts, but rather to allow the Holy Spirit to control them.  If they would follow his admonition, they would save themselves a lot of heartache down the road.  They would still have to deal with sin, even though true believers are dead to sin, sin didn’t die.  It is always around the corner just waiting for an opportunity to strike at a time when the believer is not expecting Satan’s attack, or the believer has let down his guard.  Satan always attacks believers at their weakest point.  He does not follow the “rules of engagement” concerning battle with the believer.  Anything is “fair game” to him.  Paul referred to these “surprise attacks” as being “overtaken in a fault”.

Even when trying to live circumspectly in this sin-cursed world, it is not that difficult to slip into one of Satan’s traps unintentionally resulting in the commitment of a sin.  When this happens, those caught up in the trap don’t need to be shamed by others.  They have enough shame and guilt on their own if they are truly born again.  However, they don’t need to be ignored either.  Sin is insidious.  If not dealt with immediately, there is a possibility that the one who sinned could become rather lax about his or her sin which would only set them up to fall into a pattern of sin.  This is why they need restoration by a fellow believer who gently will approach the one who erred and show him or her how to return to God’s standard for living through repentance, asking God and any of whom his or her sin has harmed for forgiveness.  Not only an approach done in humility will have greater success in winning back the one who sinned, but also the one who attempts to restore his fellow believer must realize that he, also, is vulnerable to fall into a sin trap and may need the help of fellow believers.

A believer may think that he or she is too strong and/or mature spiritually to fall, but those folks are the ones that Satan vehemently goes after.  If he can influence someone, particularly if this person has been very vocal about his belief, to take the bait of temptation and fall into sin’s trap, then the devil assumes another “feather in his cap”.  Satan’s desire is to hurt Christ and Christ’s influence on the world as manifested by His followers.  He can’t take true believers’ salvation from them, but he can deceive them into sin and thus hurt their witness.  Satan knows his time is short, and he is working overtime.  The present state of the world is proof of that.

Believers should not judge others.  To judge and criticize another is to assume authority over him or her.  In James 3:1, he cautioned against using the tongue as an instrument of judgmental attitudes.  When we judge others, we are setting ourselves up as judge and jury to find fault with others, with the resulting consequence of setting ourselves up to be judged by our peers, and, more importantly, by God Himself.  The Holy Spirit has the right to judge, but He does so in a manner that benefits the one in need of correction by helping them to see the error of their ways, and He deals with the person directly.  He doesn’t criticize one behind his or her back.  If the Holy Spirit reveals to us some sin or error in another, it is not for the purpose of judging them, but to urge us to intercede to God on their behalf, and, as Paul urged, to help them work toward the restoration of their spiritual lives.

Oswald Chambers wrote: “Our Lord allows no room for criticism in the spiritual life, but He does allow room for discernment and discrimination.  If we let these searchlights go straight down to the root of our spiritual lives, we will see why Jesus says, ‘Don’t judge’.  We won’t have time to.”  In other words, if you keep busy keeping yourself in line with God’s standards, you won’t have any time left over to try to straighten out everyone else, which would certainly be an exercise in futility!

Sometimes the most critical and judgmental people are Christians, sad to say.  The very thing we are not to do becomes the favorite pastime of those with a critical spirit, who take satisfaction in, well, criticizing others.  We never know what another person is going through until we have walked a mile in their shoes.  To criticize another without knowing the facts makes us look unloving and ungodly.  Not only that, but it puts us under the spotlight of God’s righteous judgment, not exactly a fun place to be.