Strengthen thy brethren
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brethren. Luke 22:32- Sin can make our faith to fail, especially when we never expect that we can fall into such a sin; this may eventually lead to backsliding. This is because one may loose confidence in himself and in God. A person who falls into a sin that he or she has never committed such as adultery or denial as was the case of Peter, that person may not recover if the person is overcome by guilt. Worse still is the person that falls into a sin, and continues thereby, not knowing how to get out of it. For example, a man or woman that falls into the sin of adultery and gets entrapped in it. That man or woman may loose all his/her self confidence and his/her faith in being able to serve God in holiness and righteousness. Such persons may begin to run away from God because they think that God is displeased with them or that God may not be able help them again. Peter went back to fishing. Some people may return to their old ways of life thinking that God can no longer redeem them. A man who desires to live a holy life, and finds himself struggling continuously with a particular sin also has the tendency of loosing faith in the ability of God to deliver him/her from such sin. Our Lord Jesus knew this, that was why He had to pray for Peter Himself, and went the extra mile of recalling Peter from his fishing ministry to the ministry of the word. Our Lord told Peter, ‘when you are converted, strengthen your brethren’. We are to ensure that we strengthen our brethren who are taken in a fault rather than despising them. If God delivers us from a particular sin, we have the responsibility of ministering the same grace unto others that might be overtaken by such sin or any other form of sin. Our duty as children of God is to strengthen our brethren. If we do this, we would have saved a life, and God will be very glad. James 5:20.