I was at a small Bible study group years ago, and some people there were complaining about new Christians who were making mistakes. I thought their criticism seemed a bit harsh. I tentatively brought up discipleship. People need time to grow in their faith, and time to get to know the Lord and His expectations. One young lady responded with “But they have the Holy Spirit now. They should know it’s wrong.”
That statement stopped me in my tracks. I stopped talking. I soon stopped attending that Bible study. When there’s no grace in the church, there’s no point to the church. No one can grow where there is only judgment instead of loving correction.
Why do we need grace? Why do we need loving correction? Because “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” We are not, and cannot be perfect. We need Jesus. We need God’s Spirit. We need ongoing forgiveness.
We read in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It doesn’t say, “If you confessed and were saved, you were cleansed. You’re perfect now. You will always make the right decisions from now on.”
Peter was an apostle, filled with the Spirit, who was eventually martyred for Christ. Even he had to keep confessing. The apostle Paul had to remind him that distancing himself from Gentile believers to appease Jewish critics was not appropriate. Even Peter kept making mistakes.
Was Paul able to judge because he was somehow more righteous than Peter? Nope. He wasn’t perfect either. In Romans 7:15 we read what Paul himself wrote, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” Paul corrected Peter. Paul wrote a large percentage of the New Testament. Paul was filled with the Spirit. Paul still needed grace because he still sinned.
As Christians, we do have the Holy Spirit to convict us. But, we are still human. We are still sinners. We still need ongoing grace to help us when we stumble. We should remember that, and humbly approach other believers if we think they need correction. We should not judge them for sinning, because we ourselves still sin. If we refuse to humbly accept that we are not perfect, and if we refuse to extend God’s grace to others, we run the risk of committing more sins of our own.
Pride “I don’t do that sin anymore. I’m a better Christian than they are.”
Gossip “Did you see what So-And-So did? Something is clearly wrong with their relationship with God. I wonder what it is.”
Bitterness “They still sin so much, but I don’t see God doing anything to correct them. Why am I trying so hard to be good if God is letting them get away with it?”
Lying “I didn’t do that. You only think you saw me do that. I don’t do that anymore.”
Hypocrisy “When you do that, it’s a sin. When I do it, there’s a reason it’s okay.”
We need to live in humility, remembering that we ourselves are sinners saved by grace, being forever grateful to God, and gracious with each other. The church should not be a graceless place of judging and shaming. It should be a place where we love each other, help each other, correct each other, support each other, and pray for each other. We all make mistakes. We all need grace. We all need a community to help us grow. We can’t be that kind of community if we insist that others should just stop sinning and be perfect. None of us can do that. None of us has the right to demand that of others.
We can remind each other that we all fall short of God’s perfection. We can remind each other that if we confess our sins, we will be forgiven. We can remind ourselves that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). And then we can remind ourselves that we need that same speech, too. Because we too have fallen short, need forgiveness, and trust in God’s grace.