Be Reconciled

Be Reconciled

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9)

Matthew 5:23-24:

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

            With the words above Jesus once again takes us to the deeper issues of the heart rather than the external practice of worship. To the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day, nothing was more important than the external proprieties and the bringing of gifts and sacrifices to the altar of God. To Jesus, though, the heart and intent of the worshiper was far more important than the gift or the sacrifice being given. Perhaps that is why he often called the Pharisees “hypocrites.”

            In any case, in the Scripture above Jesus is pointing out the hypocrisy of someone coming to worship God and make things right with Him when the worshiper knows full well that he or she has wronged someone and has not yet made things right with him or her. Notice that Jesus doesn’t forbid the worship – he tells us to leave the gift at the altar – but he stresses the utmost urgency of both the worship and the reconciliation. We are to immediately go to be reconciled to the one we have wronged and then promptly come back and offer the gift that we left there. It’s almost as if the reconciliation with our brother or sister is a part of our worship of God.

            In fact, the Apostle John, who spent a lot of time with Jesus, points out that, “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.” (1 John 4:20-21)

            Our relationships with other people, then, do have an impact on our relationship with God. Before we can be right with Him, we have to be right with others. Jesus implores us today, be reconciled to whomever you have hurt and then go be reconciled to God. If you have said hurtful words to someone, go and apologize. If you have spread gossip and half-truths about someone, go confess it and ask for forgiveness and set the record straight. If anyone has anything against you, go and offer compensation or your help or whatever it is you have to do to make things right between you.

            And if someone has hurt you, be quick to forgive. When you open the door of your heart to forgive others, God uses that same door to extend forgiveness to you. Jesus died not only for you, but also for the one you sinned against and the one who sinned against you. Be reconciled one to another, and then be reconciled to God through the cross of Christ.  

Pray with me: Father, you know my heart. I want to be reconciled to those whom I may have hurt as well as those who have hurt me. Bring people to my mind right now, and show me how to be reconciled to them…continue praying as you feel led…

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