Recovery from a "false step."

Have you ever been on a balance beam? Then you know what it's like to begin to lose your balance. The other day I was balancing on the end of my Father-in-laws truck bed attempting to get up so that I could be the next in line to ride the new, super-high, rope swing he had installed. My oldest son was already in the back of the truck and as I came up I began to lose my balance. In the back of the truck there was nothing to grab on to except my son, which I tightly did! He in turn grabbed my arm and a disaster of embarrassing proportions was averted.

In Galatians 6:1 it says, "...if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly, should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path."

As I read this passage I looked right above my computer monitor to a yellow inspiration note that I had stuck there several weeks ago after reading someone else's blog. It is a reminder that the Jews categorized different levels of what we simply call "sin." To the Jew, a "sin" is unintentional and is very different from the other two, rebellious and willful, levels of sin.

So I got out a commentary I had close at hand to look at the original word used. This word, in its original meaning could have made the sentence sound like this, "if another believer is overcome by some 'false step' you who are godly..."

Now, how many of us have taken false steps? I took one getting up into the pickup bed. Perhaps you've twisted an ankle on a false step. Slipped on the ice. Tripped on your shoelace. We take the same kind of spiritual false steps. We look just a little too long at the picture. We think just a bit more about how good he looks. We hold that item we inadvertently walked out of the store with just long enough to claim, "possession is 9/10ths..."

These false steps happen all the time and Paul says that it is the duty of other believers to, "gently and humbly" help the offender back on the right path. This is done so as to restore our fellow believer so that a more serious "sin" is not committed. But it should also be done very carefully because we know that Satan is prowling, he is after all of us!

But I want to look at another issue here. The "sin" we are to restore our brother from is an unintentional sin. A false step. A mistake. A moment of weakness, a slip. From these one can be quickly and fairly easily restored. What Paul doesn't mention is the other types of sin. Willful disobedience and rebellious behavior. For those, there is a completely different way of helping your brother back on the path, much more painful for all involved and not nearly as easy as a quick grab or a subtle shove, to get him back on track.