Wisdom's Corner
Mending a NetThe apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Christians in Galatia. The name of the letter is Galatians. In chapter six and verse one we read, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."
The word in the greek translated as "restore" is a very interesting word. It was used by the greeks to mean several different things. We will look at a few of these meanings in the next few issues and see how they may apply in this verse.
The word was used for mending a net. In the first century, nets were used for fishing. These nets were very important. If they became broken, the fishermen could not catch the fish. Every time a fisherman came back from fishing, he would look over his net. He would inspect the entire net to make sure that there were no broken places and that there were no weak places. If he found such he would fix it. He would try to make the net be as good as it was when new.
We are to do this with members of the church who are broken spiritually. We need to look them over very carefully and see where the problem is. Then, we need to do whatever is needed to fix them spiritually. We want to help them become just as good as when they became a new Christian.
It is interesting to think of a Christian as a net. God tells us, that as Christians, we are to be fishers of men. If a Christian is spiritually broken, he cannot catch other men. He must be a good, sound Christian. (And a net can only catch fish if it is thrown into the water. So, a Christian must be willing to go out and catch. It is useless to have a sound net and not cast it out.)
Be sure you are a sound net. And make sure you know how to mend other nets. The only way to do this is to know God's word, the Bible.
Until next time, keep studying your Bible. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
Mark McWhorter
Copyright 1999
Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)