We’re In it Together

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. — Galatians 6:1-5

I love action movies. Movies with characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones are the best. Action movies always have that one great, intense, climatic scene where you are convinced someone is going to meet an awful fate, and at the last second are gloriously saved from peril. They fall off a cliff and are caught by the hand, pushed out of the way of the speeding vehicle, or pulled out of the quicksand.

Adventure has dangers–that’s what makes it an adventure. In each of these situations we are reminded that no one can survive adventure alone. God has called you into an adventure. You have not been called to a life of ease and apathy. Instead, you have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to step into a radically dangerous mission with untold risk and unexplainable reward. It is truly an adventure following Christ.

But every adventure has danger. We may not face cliffs and speeding vehicles and quicksand. Our dangers are much more subtle, devious and destructive. Here’s the problem: as Christians, our first reaction when we see someone wander off into dangerous territory is to distance ourselves from him or her. But Paul says we are to “carry each other’s burdens.” That is, we are to do everything we can to lovingly bring someone back from the brink of destruction.

Here is what this requires of us, however: We must give others permission to invade our lives. If we are to be the kind of people willing to stick our our necks to pull a brother or sister out of harm’s way, we must display equal courage in allowing those same people to speak honestly to us when we wander into dangerous territory. The problem with dangerous territory is that we rarely see it as dangerous until we are already in the middle of danger. It is always easier to see when someone else is moving in the wrong direction. It’s much harder when it is we are the ones stepping where we should not. That’s why we need to listen–and listen hard–when a brother or sister tries to pull us back.