“Be One Another’s Keeper!”

“Be One Another’s Keeper!”(Jam.5:19-20).
African wisdom says “the fly that had no-one to advise it followed the corpse into the grave.” Ignorance may not be an excuse before the law, but it is wrong not to tell the person who is ignorantly going astray that s/he is going astray.
It is great evil when bad people perpetuate evil, but it is a greater evil when good people see what is going on and decide to stay quiet.
A lot of evil deeds would have been prevented if somebody had said, “Don’t do it; it is not good!” Unfortunately we have a culture of encouraging evil by hailing those we ought to have rebuked or corrected.
This culture of encouraging wrongdoing through passivity is well expressed in this proverb:“The goat told the dog, ‘What you have just seen and are barking I saw it long ago but chose to remain silent.'”
It is in God’s plan that we should all make heaven after living a life of love in this world. Just as he is not interested in the death of a sinner, so too must we be interested in correcting any of us who wanders from the truth.
James advices us, “My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
This is to say if we have to live the fulfilment of the promises of God, then we must be one another’s keeper. Each one of us should be an evangelist to those we see wandering from the truth.
If only we had been bold to say, “somethings are out of control,” things would have become better, but now that we keep saying “everything is under control,” here we are in this quagmire. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit should give us the courage to bring back any of us who has wandered from the truth.
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit help me to listen to those who bring me back to the truth, and let me also bring back those who have wandered from the truth. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.