It would be hard to imagine a more fitting and more practical conclusion to the best manuals on pastoral counseling you’ll find anywhere. James isn’t content with the idea of him being the only one working toward the “good” of the people of God. He turns, in these closing words, to his readers – to us – and calls us to take all that we have learned in this letter and work toward one another’s good as well.
James 5:19–20 tells us that we have a duty to one another. We have the responsibility of looking out for one another and coming to one another’s rescue whenever we see anyone slipping from the truth that’s in Christ, and sliding into sin. The truth of the matter is that we are all prone to wander.
If you were physically lost in a mountainous or wilderness region, and you had no sense of which direction you should go, would you want someone or some search team to come and locate you before something tragically happened to you? Of course, you would; anyone would desire to be rescued.
James tells us in these verses that we are to be the “search and rescue team” for those that spiritually wander away. In fact, every believer/Christian has a responsibility to go out and look for the lost and straying. Who is it that you need to go to today?