Daily devotion – Restoration and dealing with the facts.
Restoring, Not Ruining
Galatians 6:1–5 gives us one of the clearest pictures of what true spirituality looks like. The Apostle Paul tells us that if a man is overtaken in a trespass, those who are spiritual are to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Not expose him. Not crush him. Not parade him. But restore him.
The word “restore” carries the idea of mending a broken bone or repairing a torn net. It is careful work. Tender work. Patient work. And it must be done with humility, “considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
The Spirit-led believer thinks of others and how he might minister to them. The legalist churchgoer is not interested in bearing burdens — he adds to them.
This was one of the sins of the Pharisees in the days of our Lord Jesus. In Gospel of Matthew 23:4, Jesus said:
“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
They were experts at loading weight onto others, but strangers to lifting it.
Again, in Gospel of Matthew 7:1–5, Jesus warned about judging others while ignoring the plank in our own eye. The legalist is always harsher on others than he is on himself. But the Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others — so that he may be able to help others.
Legalists do not need facts. They do not wait for proof. Suspicion and rumor are sufficient. They carry, as it were, a bag of stones ready to throw. Their imaginations supply what truth has not confirmed.
But Paul contrasts this sharply. The spiritual man seeks restoration in love. The legalist exploits the fallen brother.
Instead of restoring, the legalist condemns — and often publicizes the matter. Gossip becomes a tool of self-exaltation. The fall of another becomes an opportunity to boast in supposed superiority.
When Jesus sought to be a Physician to sinners, He was criticized by the religious elite. And the believer who gently restores today may likewise be criticized by modern-day legalists.
Paul reminded Timothy that the purpose of discipline is restoration — never humiliation. Be sure of the facts. Establish matters properly. Do not entertain accusations built on rumor.
Warren Wiersbe once shared how a woman publicly accused him at a church dinner of ruining the church. As she began her tirade, he calmly asked two elders nearby to witness what she was saying. Immediately she stopped and walked away. Gossip withers in the light of accountability.
It is a sad thing when churches disobey the Word and give ear to rumors, lies, and slander. Such behavior does not fulfill “the law of Christ.” Bearing one another’s burdens does.
Let us therefore be men and women who mend, not mutilate.
Who heal, not harm.
Who restore, not ruin.
For this is the way of the godly — not the legalist.