“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted”
considering yourself lest you also be tempted
The spiritual Christian should keep in mind that he might find himself in the same place as the fallen Christian someday. If we stay alert to our own vulnerability, it will help us maintain a steady and balanced approach to others. No one is immune from falling into sin. No believer grows in maturity to the point that he goes beyond susceptibility to temptation.
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).
The word “considering” means to look attentively at, to fix the attention upon a thing with interest in it. When considering temptation to sin, bring it close to home. There is a great danger in neglecting our own spiritual condition. Maybe we are the next on the Devil’s list. We may be next on his agenda. The possibility is always there. That is why we must concentrate on the bobby traps the Devil might lay for us when we try to help fallen believers.
Principle:
Christians should reconnoiter themselves.
Application:
Christians should reconnoiter themselves. We must watch ourselves very carefully lest we fall into the sin from which we attempt to deliver others.
All of us stand on the slippery slope of temptations peculiar to us as individuals. Each of us is vulnerable to certain kinds of sins.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us [these are sins that are peculiar to each individual], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” (Hebrews 12:1).
