Are We Our Brother’s Advocate?

When you experience God’s correction, it’s sometimes easy to look at others, and say, “Well, what about them, Lord? They’re guilty of the same thing. You need to correct them, too.” Or you might even be tempted to take it upon yourself to correct them. There seems to be a tendency to think that your own latest correction or revelation is the thing everybody else needs to hear… right now.

I think of how many years the Lord saw things in my heart and life that needed correction, but He waited so patiently for me to get to the place where I was yielded and humble, so He could deal with me gently, instead of with harsh judgments. He saw things that I didn’t see, or wasn’t willing to admit; but yet He didn’t cast me away. Now, how could I not be as patient with my brother? …And pray… like Jesus, my advocate with the Father, has prayed for me. I really believe that Jesus has prayed to the Father for me, and still does. Now I want to be an advocate with the Father… like Him… for others. Of course, Jesus is an advocate in way that I could never be, but I still want to be as much like Him as I possibly can be.

1 John 2:1 says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

1 John 5:14-16 gives us a little insight into how we, too, are to be an advocate.
“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us:
15 And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ASK, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

It’s too bad that those three verses are so seldom quoted together, in context. We usually stop at the line where we get what we want, but Jesus was all about giving life… even to them that sin.

Do we really seriously want to be like Jesus? How could we ever take the position of prosecuting attorney… or accuser of the brethren? The mind of Christ is to be an advocate… and pray.