The church is a family full of brothers and sisters who are all equally related to their heavenly Father, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Although we will all be perfect when we see Jesus, we are not yet sinless.  We sin more often than we like to think … and yet, when we do think, we are right to be deeply ashamed and turn to the Lord in confession, asking to be forgiven (1 John 1:8-10).

When we see another of God's children losing the battle with temptation, we have a responsibility towards the brother or sister.  Rather than becoming superior and judgemental (as so many believers are inclined to do), we are to love them: and the most loving thing to do is to pray for them to repent, and gently encourage them to do so (Galatians 6:1).  After all, they belong to the Lord.  He is making them like Jesus and so He has a special interest in their holiness.  The inner voice of the Spirit is powerful to convict sinners of their guilt, so we should ask the Lord to bring them to repentance. When they do repent, they will be cleansed and made usable again in God's kingdom (Hebrews 10:22).

Alas, there are some in our churches who do not seem to care about their sin.  It brings them no distress at all.  They are not repentant and appear to have no guilt.  Instead of comparing themselves against God's Word they assess themselves against the standards of the world.  Their consciences are not working, and they are on a one-way street to judgement.  Yes, they are in the church, but are they in Christ?

We cannot ignore the responsibility to watch over our true spiritual siblings.  Paul writes in Galatians 6:1, "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted."  But it is so easy to become critical and judgemental; that is why we need to learn to talk to God before we open our mouths to others.  In God's mercy, full restoration (the word in Galatians 6:1 means ’to mend their nets’) is God’s choice and power to bring a spiritually disabled believer back to being spiritually productive.