"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew5:23-24
There are two more areas of penitence we must cover: Penitence toward others and then towards ourselves. We'll deal with the former today.
When we have hurt someone else - when a relationship with someone is broken and we have been the cause of it, Jesus doesn't mince words. "Leave your gift at the altar. FIRST go and be reconciled to your brother or sister."
This requires courage and sensitivity.
When we have hurt or wronged someone, Jesus would have us be penitent toward them:
- "I hurt you - I'm so sorry"
- "Something went wrong between us - I want to make it right"
- "Things aren't the same between us any more - have I hurt you? How can I make it right?"
Wherever possible, we should try our very best to heal any rift that exists between us and others.
Why?
John makes it clear in 1John 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."
We can't get around this: Broken relationships impact our relationship with God - It's that plain and simple.
One can talk for hours about the specifics of each broken relationship, about who's to blame, and about their share of the blame, but at the end of the day - we have to GO to them and sort it out.
Enough said...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
