How to Help a Fallen Christian to Stand ⋆ Effie Darlene Barba

During this journey as Christians, there are times when we fail. Perhaps we took our eyes off of Jesus or laid aside our Bible and prayer for a season. At other times, we may have just lost our way; the flesh winning the battle. It may have begun with a seed of pride; thinking, we would never do that, then we did. We may have responded to a situation with anger. Furthermore, we may have thought we could withstand the temptation alone, never falling prostrate before God to cry, “I can’t do this on my own”. One example of that was Peter when he denied Christ. He thought that it would never happen; yet, it did. Knowing our own frailty, what are we to do to help a fallen Christian, another brother or sister in Christ to stand when they have fallen?

Paul had just finished writing to the Galatians about the need to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Because of the Grace they were given, leading to Salvation; they must be mindful of how to walk in Grace as well. Although, we are set free from the bondage of sin and death; we still have a sin nature to which we must die daily, that Christ might live through us. The Holy Spirit works to transform our hearts, removing the chaff one piece at a time. Revealing to us our own frailties and blotches, so that we might become more like Christ. We must be mindful of that when we see another Christian fall, reaching out a hand of love to help them up. All too often we tend to in our own pride, cast them aside; forgetting it is God’s Grace Alone that saved them and us.

Galatians 6: 1-6

“Brethern, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another for every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.”

It must be with love and humility, that we reach out our hand to help another who has fallen into sin. Our human nature tends to look down upon them with pride in our own heart; which, we must not.

Although the above scripture appears to have a controversy between bearing another’s burden and our need to bear our own; yet, it does not, as the Liberty Bible Commentary explains.

“No contradiction exists between verses 2 and 5. The Greek word for burdens in verse 2 is baros, there meaning moral weakness—a burden too heavy for one to bear alone. The word for burden in verse 5 is phortion, meaning a personal responsibility that can and should be borne by the individual. Instead of comparing one’s virtues with the moral blemishes of another, one is to compare himself with his own achievements against the backdrop of the responsibility given him by God.”[1]

Helping a Fallen Christian to Stand

How do we help a fallen Christian to stand? We must reach out our hand in love and humility, walk beside them, be willing to listen, and gently teach them how to let the Holy Spirit fill them. Be willing to share the battles you have fought with openness. Tell them how it was God’s Grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ that helped you to overcome your own frailties.

In Christ, I am God’s own Beloved

Accused, Condemned in eyes of men

Rejected, hated for my sin

No one stopped to see my heart

Cast aside some broken part

That no one cared to see inside

The scars and sorrows that abide

A heart so filled with hopes and dreams

Of meadows green and crystal streams

Lay shattered, broken cast away

With nothing good or kind to say

Chorus

Then God’s Dear Grace that loved me so

Looked deep within and bid to know

Each crevice of my heart and soul

Each broken piece to then make whole

In Christ I am set free from sin

My guilt and shame all taken in

And bore upon that rugged cross

My strength to stand though all else loss

My sins all covered by His blood

In Christ, I am God’s own Beloved

How quickly men’s own selfish pride

Does cast away and cast aside

A fallen one—a broken heart

Who needs your hand to help them start?

Christ had come to heal the lame

To lift their guilt and take their shame

He called the sinners to His side

To know His love-in Him abide

So why do we not give our hand

To help a fallen one to stand

So, prideful man with heart so small

Be careful lest you too shall fall

Chorus

For it was God’s dear Grace that loved me so

Looked deep within and bid to know

Each crevice of my heart and soul

Each broken piece to then make whole

In Christ I am set free from sin

My guilt and shame all taken in

And bore upon that rugged cross

My strength to stand though all else loss

My sins all covered by His blood

In Christ, I am God’s own Beloved

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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2017
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