I Forgive
those who have strayed...
Every believer has experienced that terrible sinking of heart when a brother or sister in Christ has left God to chase the world. And although it is such a heart breaking event, many turn it into bitterness of heart rather than continuing instant in prayer. I understand how easy it can be for someone to focus their anger on the person instead of the sin, but that doesn't justify your unforgivness. Be angry and sin not! Don't hate the believer - hate the sin. Just as God didn't hate you because you were a sinner, he hated, and still hates, only your sin. Give mercy to your fellowbeliever! Those who fall are still your brothers and sisters in Christ and should always be treated with the charity that God patterned out for us to follow.
Romans 12:3 "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Don't make the same mistake as the brother who stayed at home in Luke 15:29-30 did, and think that you are somehow better than that fallen brother or sister. We are all wicked and all our hearts are deceitful, and any one of us, weak or strong, can fall away from God in an instant.
Another reason why you should bestow charity and prayer upon that soul, who has chosen to run their own life, is when they get right and return to the fold. What kind of attitude prevents you from loving them when they return? That bitterness that you have locked up inside - that's the attitude that will cause more problems in your Christian walk than anything else. That's the very thing that will cause that fallen child of God to not want to go back to the Father...that's the very thing that will cause you to fall away from God yourself. Don't risk your spirituality or another believer's for the satisfaction of being bitter and being unforgiving. In the end it is a false satisfaction, it is only a terrible cycle that never stops till you forgive.
Forgive them for their weakness of faith, for you could soon find yourself in the very same position as they. You don't have to accept their wrong-doings, you don't have to excuse whatever sin they have committed...you need to bestow upon them mercy for what they have done and lift their name before the throne of God.
The burden that comes with bitterness towards a fallen Christian is one that we do not need to bear. We act as though they have somehow sinned against us and can never be forgiven. Thankfully, God has a different view! Even so, as God told Samuel: "...they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Forgive them, show charity, and pray continually! Don't give up, don't harbour bitterness, and don't deceive yourself into thinking that you are better than they. God has blessed you because you have chosen to stay in the fight, don't ruin it with bitterness! Forgive.