“We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored” (2 Corinthians 13:9).

Paul embodied unselfishness. To Paul, the goal was always the strength and spiritual health of others. We live in a broken world and among broken people—even in the Church. How we handle them tells a lot about us.

Paul’s prayer was for the restoration of those to whom he ministered. The fact that people need to be restored is just one more sign that they haven’t reached perfection. Our goal, like Paul’s, is to see the broken restored. That’s why Paul could write the Galatians and say, “If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently” (Galatians 6:1).

Condemnation and judgmentalism are not marks of spirituality. The evidence that we are living by the Spirit is in our willingness to restore the broken gently. Paul not only taught that, it’s how he lived.