No Easy Way Out

Is there any cross in your Christianity? This question, posed by J.C. Ryle in his classic, Holiness, came to me at a critical time -- right on the heels of my reading Proverbs 24:10, "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small."

Christianity -- real Christianity, that is -- is by no means easy. As Ryle says, "Flesh and blood naturally shrink from pain. It is in us all to do so. We draw back by a kind of instinct from suffering, and avoid it if we can. If two courses of action are set before us, which both seem right, we generally take that which is the least disagreeable to flesh and blood."

That is so true, isn't it? We're always looking for the easy way out. This tendency is reflected in virtually every area of our lives. But for the sake of this brief discussion, let's take just one area. (I'd rather shoot with a rifle than a shotgun.) Let's consider the matter of confrontation. It's hard enough to overcome temptation ourselves. But what do we do when we see another Christian brother or sister caught in a trespass, overcome by temptation, perhaps persisting in sin?

Let's be honest. Our natural tendency is to do nothing -- to let it go, to ignore it. After all, who needs to borrow trouble? Better to say a silent prayer and go on our way, letting the Holy Spirit handle it! But what saith the Scripture? Scripture tells us to go to that person in a spirit of humility and gentleness, with the intention of restoring them. We are to go to them privately about their sin in the hopes of winning them over, of leading them to repentance and restoration. Yes, the Holy Spirit does the work, but we are the agents He uses!

I'm convinced that the reason we don't lovingly confront one another more often about our sin is because we love ourselves too much, and we love God and others too little. We are more concerned with what others think of us than what they think of God, what God thinks of their sin, or what the world thinks of God.

This problem is nothing new. Scripture's indictment of the religious leaders of Jesus' day (the religious leaders, mind you!), that "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43). Paul the apostle, who had been in that very boat when he was Saul the persecutor, said rather pointedly: "Do I seek to please men? If I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10).

When it comes to dealing with sin, there's no easy way out. Sin must be confronted, first in our lives, and then in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God" (1 Pet. 4:17).

What fellow believer has God placed in your path who needs to be restored to fellowship with Him? Do you love him or her enough to pursue them in love? You could be the very agent God uses to bring them to repentance and renewal. Remember, "Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue."
-- Proverbs 27:5-6; 28:23