15“If your brother or sisterb sins,c go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. (Matthew 18:15)
Thoughts: What business is that of yours? If I mess up- it's my own fault! So says the person who does not think the body of Christ is important. Part of being a people of love is caring when someone hurts themselves with their own sin. This also hurts the body of Christ- the church- and hurts those around them. To think that our sins only hurt the ones who perform them is short sighted and misses the power of love and affectation. Ideally, someone will respond to a private rebuke. If they refuse to respond, then we are called to take another with us. But if they listen there is room for them to come back. We are not our own- we have been bought with a price. It is no longer us alone- but it is us with God and with others who are part of a larger body. The balance is that we are not to be nosy and gossips. But when sin confronts us, we are to confront it.
Prayer: Lord, help me to listen to rebuke and also to give it when needed not for my sake, but for yours.
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