When a fellow Christian makes a horrible decision what should our response be? When I was growing up in the church, I remember a song being sung by someone visiting our small country church with the following words, “If you have someone in the church that ain’t living right, have a church meeting, kick them out, let the church roll on”.

The sad truth is that in too many churches that would have been the immediate response. There is a saying that sadly depicts the attitude of some in the faith which says, “The church is the only organization that shoots their own wounded”. I am not saying that there are situations that should be ignored and not addressed, but the main goal is that forgiveness, mercy and grace be offered to anyone who makes poor choices and admits their failures. We should help them to get back on the right path. The scripture addresses this in Galatians 6:1 where it instructs us by saying, “brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently”.

We need to remember that this is how we would want to be treated by others in our time of need.