RESTORATION
[p. 193] RESTORATION
The thought of the Lord’s coming would produce a desire for restoration in the brethren; we should want every one to be put right. I have no doubt that the intercession of Christ is often answered by the discipline of God for the restoration of those who have erred. The Lord would encourage us all to cultivate the desire for restoration — to do our utmost to save souls from death and to cover sins.
How could we bear to think of any sins of God’s people being unconfessed and unrepented of, when the Lord comes? The restoration of every erring one is to be sought in view of the coming of the Lord. Turning aside from the truth, and from what is suitable to God, is the way to death; it is not the way of life.
Nothing promotes brotherly confidence more than the confession of faults. If one confesses his offences it does not make us think less of him, but more, because we know he has judged himself about those things in which he has been at fault. He is now upright and we are greatly encouraged to pray for him. But it is to be noted that the confession is mutual, “Confess therefore your offences to one another” (verse 16). It is not a priest listening to the confessions of other people, and not confessing his sins to them. We are all put on the same platform of mutual transparency and confidence. James reminds us that “we all often offend”.
It will be generally found if one brother has to make acknowledgment to another of a fault, that something is also due on the other side. I know two brothers who were not happy together, and they met one day, and one of them said, ‘I am very sorry that this feeling has come in between us, and I feel that it has been all my fault’. The other replied, ‘No, indeed, it has been my fault!’ That is the way to get breaches healed.