Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

                                                                                                                   Matthew 5:23-24

Today: Read Matthew 5

Today’s passage falls right in the middle of the chapter and reveals to us an eternal truth about what God values most…reconciliation. To be reconciled is to bring into agreement or harmony. It is to restore a relationship with another. The brother in this passage could be a relative, a fellow Christian, a co-worker, or just an acquaintance. Jesus tells us that this reconciliation is to take priority over presenting an offering to God. For clarification, let’s put this in the modern church context. Picture a time when you have attended church. Singing, giving an offering, listening to a sermon, praying, or any other activity that you engaged in during the service can be included in the “giving” of an offering to God. It’s all worship and it’s what we are to be doing throughout the entire service. So Jesus is instructing us that in the middle of these activities, if a person comes to our mind, someone who has something against us, we should leave what we are doing and go and be reconciled with that individual. When I was a pastor, I can recall on one occasion telling the congregation that if they were faced with this situation to leave, walk out of the service, and go find that individual. Social construct might suggest that it is rude to walk out of a service but Jesus not only gives us permission to do this, He instructs us to.

So why is reconciliation so important to God? He is relational and wants to see His creation live in the same harmonious relationship in which the Father, Son, and Spirit exist. I believe broken relationships grieve the heart of God. Whether we are estranged from Him or from one another, the Bible gives me good reason to believe that God cares and that He is willingly to work in any relationship that is open to His intervention. We are reminded that God’s love for us is to be reciprocated to others:

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

                                                                                                                   1 John 4:10-11

God has taken care of the great divided separating mankind from Himself through the sacrifice of His own Son upon the cross. God’s reconciling us to Himself should be the motivation for us to be reconciled to one another. Also, the church has been given the mission of telling others how to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). It would be hypocritical at best and impossible at worst for the church to carry the message of reconciliation while remaining estranged to one another.

So let’s end with some practical applications for this passage.

(1) You are only responsible for how you handle reconciliation. It is quite possible for you to attempt to mend ways with another only for that effort to be met with hostility and rejection. Be sensitive to God’s speaking to you regarding the number of attempts and timing of your efforts. It is possible however that after you have made your effort, you will have to leave the situation in God’s hands.

(2) You are not responsible for how others respond to your attempt at making peace. Every person will answer for the thoughts, words, and deeds of their life. We need to make sure that we are right with God and that we have done everything possible to live at peace with others. Do not let the refusal of another serve as baggage in your own life.

(3) Finally, be forgiving…all the time (Matthew 18:21-22). If you are the offender, go quickly, apologize, and be reconciled with the one you have offended. However, if the offense was against you, forgive! You will find that forgiving freely sets you free from any burden that holding grudges brings. Forgive as often as is necessary and then let God deal with those who have offended you.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

                                                                                                            Philippians 2:3-4