daily java

Daily Java: Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. (Galatians 6:1-5)

It is called shooting your wounded. That’s when someone has problems and is caught in a sin and the church dumps him.

Instead of helping him to come back to God, he is cast aside.

That’s an old trick of war. You have three men on patrol and the enemy wounds one. That way the other two are burdened with trying to carry the wounded man along. The solution to this sometimes is to go ahead and shoot him. He is dead then and you don’t have to worry about him.

The church is bad about this. Someone has a problem, is caught in a sin – a big splashy one or maybe a small one – but he is wounded.

The church has the responsibility of helping those who have problems. And we all do. But sometimes, the problem is such that it may be hard, or embarrassing or it just may be that the church is just lazy and doesn’t want to be bothered by it. Christianity to them is a happy, smiley thing and not real life.

After all, a person caught in a sin is a black mark on the church and we want success. Nothing worse than a failure story hanging around the church.

So we dump him. He needs help, maybe financial, maybe just emotional but he is a drain on us so we dump him. He is wounded and we shoot him.

Now that he is dead, he is no bother at all and we can get on with the work of serving the Lord more easily.

That is not Christianity. That is selfishness and sin in its own right.

You sin, too. Maybe no one sees you, but you do. They are no different from you. We like to think of ourselves as really good people above all that, but, as it says, if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

We fool ourselves, not God and not others when we pretend to be holy and righteous at the expense of helping others. Your only pride comes in knowing you are a child of God, not in comparing yourself to other people.

Our mandate from God is to help each other. Yes, sometimes the wound is big and messy, but that is a child of God you are dealing with and you cannot throw him away.

Those who are really spiritual will help. Those who are arrogant fools will shoot him. God will judge both and the ones who help will come out of the judgment well.

Jesus also said, in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:2). There will come a day when you need that love. And hopefully, it will be there for you.

When you do, when you help someone who needs that help living his life and overcoming his sin, you fulfill the law of Christ. We are not here for self-glory, we are here for his glory.

And there is no glory in shooting our wounded.