Sin always aims to cut us off from others. Usually, the most
difficult temptations are most fierce when we are most isolated. That makes
the, “just call me” advice either a long-forgotten platitude or a seemingly
insurmountable mountain at the moment. Calling a Christian friend in the heat of temptation is often the last thing I do.
I am responsible for my sin. No one else is, not my friends
or my circumstances. Of this there can be no mistake. Yet, my friends are
responsible to love me.
In WWII, the German Luftwaffe was left to putting boys with
30 hours of flight experience into immediate combat. They experienced an almost
100% failure rate. It was an injustice to send up those young men into those
fierce skies. They needed training, mentorship, accountability, instruction, and
help. Was it the fault of the flight instructors and Luftwaffe senior officers
if these boys died? Well, not immediately. They were not in the cockpit. But no
one would doubt they bore part of the blame.
In the same way, when it comes to my sanctification, I am responsible before
the Lord, but I need my brothers and sisters to bear something of the burden. They are
God’s secondary vehicles of truth to me (the Word of God, mediated through the
Spirit of God being primary). That means at one level, the best Christian friends will
learn my patterns of sin and rather than wait for me to call them, they will call
me. Probably when I least want to hear from them.
This is much harder than putting the responsibility on the
offender. It requires me to pray for my friends, involve my life with theirs,
and at one level, take responsibility for their actions. Maybe that is where
the rub is? Do I really want to have to deal with your stuff as well my own?
Love says yes.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to
love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV)
