Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Well, hey, friends, welcome back to another edition of the Weekday Podcast. This is Bobby McGraw. I'm so grateful to be with you this week as we think about a better way towards conflict. Now, if you missed any of our previous episodes, you can go to weekdaypodcast.com to play catch up. But I'm telling you today, I hope will be super helpful, because we've all been there. We've been hurt by someone close to us. Maybe it was betrayal, maybe it was passive aggressive comments that they made, or maybe it was silence when we needed support the most. And in that moment, something rises up inside of us that wants to even the score. Now, maybe not out loud, but definitely in our heads, that urge is to retaliate. But Scripture actually gives us a higher road. In Galatians 6, verses 1 and 2, this is what Paul writes. He says, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourselves so that you will not be tempted, bear one another's burdens and therefore fulfill the law of Christ.
[00:01:07] Now notice these words that Paul uses. He says, restore gentleness, bear one another's burdens. And here's the idea of today, restoration is greater than retaliation. Now, in the original language that Paul's writing in, the word restore is a medical term.
[00:01:24] It was used to describe setting a dislocated bone or mending a torn neck. It's careful work, it's slow work, it's healing work. And it's not about payback. It's about bringing something that was broken back to wholeness. And honestly, that's our assignment. For anybody that says, I want to be like Jesus. Not to punish, but to participate in the healing. Not to escalate, but to carry. Not to win, but to restore. And this is the gentle path.
[00:01:51] This passage was written to a church that had conflict, they had moral failure amongst the people. And Paul doesn't say, shame the sinner or ghost the offender. He says, if you're spiritually mature, you'll move toward them with gentleness. Now, this is counterculture. Culture says, cancel them, expose them, cut them off. But Jesus says, move toward them, carry their burden, gently restore them.
[00:02:17] And I'm telling you, that's the difference between spiritual pride and spiritual maturity. Maturity doesn't mean you ignore the sin. It means you address it in a way that actually invites healing and not humiliation. And this reminds me of the heavy suitcase. Imagine someone you care about is struggling to carry a suitcase up a flight of stairs. It's heavy, they're stumbling, they're about to drop it. What do you do? You don't shame them. You don't point and say, that's what you get. You don't walk by and pretend not to see. No. Instead, you grab a handle, you lift the weight. You say, let's carry this together.
[00:02:51] Now, that's the image that Paul gives, that we're bearing one another's burdens. That includes emotional baggage, relational wounds, and, yes, spiritual struggles. Now, we don't heal people by pointing at their pain. We help them by carrying the weight with them. So I want to give you three restoration questions. That if someone's hurt you, or if you're walking with someone who's fallen, ask yourself, number one, am I moving toward them or away from them?
[00:03:17] Right. Restoration begins with proximity. You cannot restore someone from a distance. Number two, am I leading with gentleness or with judgment?
[00:03:25] Gentleness is strength under control. It creates space for repentance. Question number three.
[00:03:31] Am I helping carry the burden? Or am I adding more weight to your words, your tone, your posture, they either lighten the load or they increase the shame.
[00:03:40] Now here's the reminder. You don't have to fix them. You just have to walk with them. And that's exactly what Jesus did for us. He didn't retaliate when we rejected him. He didn't shame us for falling short. Instead, he bore our burdens. He moved towards us in love. He gently restored us at the cost of his life so we get to be people that do the same. Jesus didn't come to settle the score. He came to carry our shame.
[00:04:07] And so here's my encouragement. Someone in your life, they might need you to restore, not retaliate. Someone in your life might be hoping you won't cancel them. Someone might be carrying a burden that they can't lift alone. Will you move towards them? Will you carry the corner of the weight? That's how we fulfill the law of Christ. That's how we walk like Jesus. And that's how peace starts to win. We look most like Jesus. Not one more, right?
[00:04:33] But when we restore. Well, friend, I hope that's helpful for you today. Again, if you find this helpful, if you don't mind, would you share it with a friend by sending them to weekdaypodcast.com we'll see you back here soon.
