Friday, March 8, 2013

By: Rachelle Hitt Bilbo

Part 2--Bringing Healing to Your Relationships:

I'm Sorry...BUT

Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be RECONCILED to them; then come and offer your gift."

Many of our devotions derive from stories of my son, nieces and other precious little tots we know! The innocence of children can easily speak to all of us.

Whenever any of the young children in my life hurt another one, whether it's intentional or unintentional, we make them say, "I'm sorry."

For a while, they did this with no complaints so that they could quickly get on their way, but as each one gets older, "I'm sorry" becomes more difficult to utter!

Today's verses teach us how important "I'm SORRY" truly is to God. He lets us know that He doesn't even want our offerings until we have reconciled with those who we have problems with.

The word "reconciled" in the original Greek text means three things: to change; to change the mind of anyone; to renew friendship with one.

When looking at these definitions, God gives us some direction to achieve reconciliation. I am sure most of us are immediately drawn to the second definition "to change the mind" of the person we're having challenges with. However, that will probably not be possible until we have made an attempt to look internally and achieve the FIRST definition-"to change" ourselves.

Many of our attempts to "make things right" include comments like, "I'm sorry...BUT..."

If you are sincere about bringing healing to a situation, I challenge you today to drop the "but." When you say "I'm sorry" and then begin to list all the wrongs and justifications, you are probably just bringing more hurt to the situation. The quickest way to "change the mind" of another is to simply find ways that YOU can improve in the relationship.

But what if it's NOT my fault??? Jesus Christ died for ALL of our sins...it wasn't His "fault" but He took it on anyway because He LOVES us. Colossians 1:20 says that through Jesus Christ, "God RECONCILED everything to Himself" and made "peace through His blood, shed on the cross."

Sometimes it's more important to make things right than to be "right."

Dear Lord, Help me to humble myself and to extend the same love and forgiveness that You so freely gave to me.

I thank You Jesus for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life. In the Name of Jesus I pray, Amen.