Warn the Wanderers

Journey through James: 5:19-20

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.— James 5:19-20

James closes out his letter with a final warning and encouragement. He cares for his readers and knows our tendency to wander. James grew up with Jesus and had seen much. He was one of the leaders of the early church, saw many people come to faith in Jesus, and also saw people wander away from the truth.

We all tend to wander away from the truth. It is part of having a sin nature. When I read these verses from James, I am reminded of the old hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” which says: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” We need to be honest with ourselves about our potential to wander from the truth, and we also need to lovingly look out for others. 

How do you respond when you see someone wandering away from the truth? Some people just like to judge those who stumble, while others make excuses. Some look at it with indifference, while others just talk about the problem. Some are heartbroken by it, and some just get frustrated. How should we respond?

James encourages us to strive to bring the wanderers back. Why should we seek to bring them back? Because sin always leads to harm and, ultimately, to death. James 1:15 tells us that wrong desires lead to sin, and sin, when it comes to fruition, brings death. When we love others, we need to warn them about sin. Sin is deceitful. It tricks us into thinking that we can tolerate and live with a certain amount of it and be just fine. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to be at war with sin, not befriending it. We must be on guard and warn those who wander from the truth. 

As we think about warning and praying for those who wander from the truth, there are a couple of other things we need to consider. First, we need to be willing to receive warnings from others. None of us is immune to sin’s deception. We need to be open to hearing when others confront us. Secondly, James is talking about people wandering away from the truth and walking into sin. We are not talking about just differences of opinion. When we warn people, we need to be warning them about sin, not about things that are not sin but just annoy us. Thirdly, this is not something that should be done lightly; it should be done with prayer and with a heart to see the people walking with the Lord. We cannot change people’s hearts; only God does that. However, God often chooses us to be messengers of His Word. 

There is great joy and reward in bringing someone back to the truth of God’s Word. May we be willing to hear warnings and lovingly seek to warn others.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.— Galatians 6:1