We are all interested in sins, especially the sins of other people. If you doubt this, look at the number of “tell-all” biographies and autobiographies of celebrities. Consider the popularity of newsstand tabloids and gossip columns. We are daily affected by what others do.

We are never completely free from the wrongs caused by others. What should we do with other people’s sins? What attitude should we have toward those people? Let me give you three options that are available to every one of us. First, we can ignore them. We can close our eyes to the wrong and pretend it never happened. We can ignore people as the priest and the Levite did in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:31-32). This is not the way to treat other people’s sins. Second, we can abhor them. We can despise them as the Pharisees did the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). This is the most common reaction. Clearly, this is not the way to treat other people’s sins. Third, we can restore them. This is the Christian way. Galatians 6:1 instructs, “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.” The word ‘restore’ means to “set in joint.” The word describes what a doctor does with a broken bone: it is set so it can heal correctly. As Christians we are to help those who fall and set them back in a right relationship with God, and others. The best of people slip. Someone wrote, “The road of life is littered with banana peelings.” When a person falls in sin, help them up and don’t hold it against them. That’s the way God treats us.

Sin cera, Erik

Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

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