The Turn

Read

James 5:19-20 "My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins."

Think

Lisa and I got to know a family who was far from God. They had never been to church. They did not own a Bible. They had zero framework for faith. And the Spirit of God whispered to us: draw near to them. Not preach at them. Not hand them a tract. Just get near.

So we did. We accepted invitations. We went to their gatherings. We showed up at their parties. And something interesting started to happen. They began to engage us. They started asking questions. They invited us deeper into their world, into their sphere of influence, into their everyday life. They saw something different in us. Not perfection. Lisa and I mess up all the time. But they saw something they could not quite explain, and it made them curious.

One night at a party, surrounded by people who were totally clueless about the claims of Jesus, several of them started asking me deep questions about life. About purpose. About what happens when everything falls apart. These were not people who would have walked into a church building. But they were willing to ask questions of someone who had walked into their living room.

James writes, "Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way." That word "turns" is one of the most misunderstood words in the Christian vocabulary. We hear "turn" and we think of confrontation. Of pointing a finger. Of telling someone they are wrong and demanding they change direction. But that is not what James is describing. The kind of turning James has in mind happens through proximity, not pressure.

Think about how Jesus operated. He did not set up a booth and wait for sinners to come to him. He went to them. He ate dinner with tax collectors. He had conversations with women at wells. He touched lepers when everyone else crossed the street. The turning happened because Jesus got close enough for people to see who he was. And when they saw who he was, they wanted what he had.

When you spend time around people who are far from God, it changes you. I have experienced this firsthand. You think differently. You pray differently. You read the Bible differently. You preach differently. You sing differently. You do life differently. Your faith stops being theoretical and starts being tested in real conversations with real people who have real objections. And that testing sharpens you in ways that staying inside the church walls never could.

I am not saying you compromise your convictions to fit in. I am saying you show up with your convictions intact and let people see how those convictions play out in an actual human life. The family Lisa and I got to know did not need a lecture. They needed a demonstration. They needed to see what it looks like when two imperfect people try to follow Jesus in the middle of ordinary life.

In Acts 8, Philip encountered an Ethiopian official riding in a chariot, reading the book of Isaiah. The man was searching. He had questions. He was reading Scripture but could not make sense of it. Philip did not stand on the side of the road and yell at the chariot. He ran alongside it. He climbed in. He sat next to the man. And from that position of proximity, he explained the gospel. The man believed, was baptized on the spot, and went on his way rejoicing.

So many people are just one question away, one conversation away, one act of kindness away from following Christ. The question is whether someone will get close enough to be there when the moment arrives. Will you go for the ask? Will you position yourself near enough to the people God is drawing so that when the questions come, you are within earshot?

The turning James describes is not a forceful shove. It is more like a gravitational pull. You live your life with such obvious dependence on God that the people around you start leaning in your direction. Not because you pressured them. Because you attracted them. Your peace in the middle of chaos. Your forgiveness when someone wrongs you. Your joy that does not make sense given your circumstances. Those things are magnetic to a world that is running on fumes.

That family Lisa and I drew near to? The questions did not stop at one party. They kept coming. And every question was an open door, a chance to point toward the God who was already pursuing them long before we showed up. We were not the ones doing the turning. God was doing the turning. We just had to be close enough for him to use us.

Proximity is the strategy. Getting near is the first step. The turn happens when someone far from God encounters someone close to God and sees the difference. Not in a sermon. Not in a pamphlet. In a life.

Apply

Draw near – Think of one person in your life who is far from God. Instead of planning what to say, plan how to be present. Accept the invitation. Show up at the gathering. Let them see your life up close, and trust God with the questions that follow.

Pray

Father, give me the courage to get close to people who do not know you yet. I do not want to preach at them from a distance. I want to sit next to them, share a meal with them, and let them see what your grace looks like in an imperfect life. Whisper to me when it is time to draw near and give me the words when the questions come. In Jesus’ name. Amen.