KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Retrieve
WHY DO BRETHREN fall away...?
In some cases, they were so drawn to wantonness and worldliness that they raced headfirst back to their former lifestyles. Many others, however, are drowned in grief, sorrow, discouragement, loneliness, doubt, confusion and external pressures. How should we reach out to them? Gently. Lovingly. Carefully. As retrievers, we must approach the task "considering" ourselves. With the same set of circumstances, we may have done what these have done. How many preachers, elders, their wives and other Christians, once considered staunch, faithful members, have been overtaken in a fault and left the Lord and His church? No one of us is inherently incapable of falling away.
The church is a family. We have spiritual siblings who are missing, and each day they are gone means increased peril for them. We have fellow spiritual soldiers who are missing in action or mortally wounded. Without rescue, they will be a casualty lost forever to the enemy. We have branches from the vine that are withered and fruitless. Without repair and grafting back in, they will, Christ says, be cut off and burned ( John 15:6).
This is not a matter we can take lightly. The souls of beloved Christians are at stake. Let us become more involved in our personal restoration movement and truly seek those who are lost. (Neal Pollard)
KneEmail: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1; cf. Jas. 5:19-20).