Galatians 6:1 (NIV) Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

When Cain killed his brother Abel and God asked him where his brother was, he very arrogantly answered, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9) It turns out that the answer to that question is a resounding yes! We are responsible to hold each other accountable for the way that we live. In this day and age of everyone being so easily offended, a lot of Christians do the safe thing and "mind their own business" when they see a brother or sister living contrary to how the Word of God tells us that we should live. Some have even adopted the mindset of the world that if anything makes you feel good, then God must be okay with it. Nothing is further from the truth! It is our responsibility to watch out for each other. If you see someone that is a believer doing things that are clearly sinful, the Lord expects us to love them enough to confront them.

When David sinned against God by having Uriah the Hittite killed to hide the fact that he had gotten his wife pregnant, David stayed in his state of his sin for a good number of months. During that time, he was miserable but unrepentant (see Psalm 32). It wasn't until the Lord sent Nathan to confront David about his sin that he woke up to see the horror of what he had done. It was then that he turned and repented and wept before the Lord, and the Lord restored him even through his sin was very great. What if Nathan had not confronted David? After all, to confront a powerful and successful king is no easy task. David would have probably lasted a lot longer before repenting and who knows how his story might have changed. We are called to correct and admonish one another, always remembering to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), while being careful not to be dragged down along with the person who is involved in sin. The enemy is a schemer and can lay a trap of temptation for you with the sin that the person is involved with unless you are alert and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you saw one of your children heading down a wrong path of sin, would you stand idly by and just  hope that they change their course, or would you do everything in your power to get them to turn away from that wrong path? The Bible tells us to "love each other deeply" (1 Peter 4:8), and love includes watching out for each other. We are in the fight for our spiritual lives and the good news is that we are not alone. Not only do we have Christ Jesus on our side and Holy Spirit to help us, but we have a family so that when we begin to drift in the wrong direction, someone can lovingly pull us back onto the right path. Be your brother and your sister's keeper. It’s how the Lord always meant for it to be.

Pastor Joey Vazquez