Verse: 1 John 5:16-17
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
Thoughts
I'm going to come out and say, I'm not sure what this means about a sin that leads to death, and a sin that doesn't. I've read some ideas around it, but I'm not sure.
The more important part of the passage, for me: "you should pray and God will give them life."
Here's the idea: other people's sins are our business. I know that feels weird. It feels like the opposite: we should mind our own business. But God calls us to "carry each other's burdens" (Galatians 6:2).
In the fourth chapter of the Bible, God comes to Cain to ask where Abel is and Cain's response is "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). Weird question right? It seems like God is saying, "yeah - kinda!" We are to care for each other as we care for ourselves!
Back to the verse. The point I'm trying to make is, part of loving each other is being willing to pray for each other when we see our friends and family falling into sin. What we tend to do is the opposite. We tend to judge in our hearts, and gossip with our mouths. But God calls for the opposite. PRAYER. He calls us to pray for our friends who are sinning.
After praying, if we have the right relationship, we may also need to go and lovingly confront. Not with the motive of proving them wrong, however, but with the motive of bringing them life and healing. Do you have anyone in your life you need to be praying for?
Prayer
God give me the compassion to pray for and care for those I know who are struggling with sin. Convict me of judgment and gossip, and help me to have your heart for them.