Pray for One Another
What makes Christianity so challenging? Our sinfulness. Not trials, and not temptations (in fact, those are challenging because we are sinful). Our sinfulness makes the Christian experience a struggle; messy, confusing, and often discouraging.
Daily, we over-estimate our own goodness. And daily, if the Spirit is in us and we listen to Him, we see our own sinfulness and lack of wisdom more and more. Daily, we are disappointed by people close to us — including Christians. We, sinners, people who hurt and disappoint others (and God more), are hurt and disappointed by other sinners who are Christians. And yet we must encourage, counsel, and correct one another. Messy, confusing, and often discouraging.
That’s why many parts of Scripture exist. Books like James, Thessalonians, and Peter are not random instructions to random people. Neither are they just wisdom bits added to inspire us. They were written to various Christian communities who had practical challenges like the ones we have today.
Many in those Christian communities were misleading, hurting, segregating, and disappointing one another. And those books, which were letters written to them, were addressing those issues between Christians and affecting Christian communities.
Those parts of Scripture are encouraging because they tell us that God perfectly knows the imperfections in our Christian bonds — and that He does not reject us because of them. Instead, He offers us practical guidance and His divine helping hand in those discouraging situations.
They are also a practical reminder, or warning, of the fact that Christian communities won’t be perfect just because they are Christian communities. They will be imperfect because they are communities of sinners. But they will endure because they are a family of sinners held together, held on, and held up by Christ Himself.
Interestingly, the imperfection is by God’s design — it’s not something that confronts God and He has to make due with. It’s part of His grand design. We are not a group of perfect and perfectly knit people on a highway to heaven; we are a group of people choosing Christ everyday by wrestling our individual and collective sinfulness. The power and principles of Christ are not exemplified by automatism.
The power of Christ shines brightest through a weak people who cannot do anything through their own power. The principles of Christ shine brightest through a weak people who have to deny themselves to obey God daily.
So, what should a weak people like us do?
Surrender. Surrender to one another. Surrender to God.
That’s what God tells us to do in James 5:16.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Confessing to one another does 3 things. It humbles us. It makes us open to each other — the more someone shares, the more you can trust and love them. We bear with one other more — we have neither an exalted view of our own righteousness nor a contemptuous attitude towards others’ sinfulness. And we become more accountable — which is very necessary to keep us in the faith.
Interestingly, praying for others does the same. It humbles us by making our hearts submit more to God and less to our feelings. It makes us think more of others and less of ourselves. And it changes our hearts towards others.
In fact, Scripture says that confessing to one another and praying for one another heals us.
Of course, in the preceding verses (James 5:1–15), James was addressing sickness — anyone suffering a physical ailment. But that does not make the instruction any less relevant to anyone who is not sick.
This is the point. Confessing to one another and praying for each other is so powerful that it brings healing. How much can it do, therefore to a body of believers?
