Defensive or Submissive

Pride Goes before a Fall If A Brother Has Something against you! (Matthew 5:23-24) The Bible says, that "if your brother has ought against you" (Matthew 5:23–24) "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." First look at the offended party - Jesus says here very plainly that if you remember that your brother has something against you (a grievance, complaint, or hurt you caused), your responsibility as a Chrostian is to initiate peace and not just sweep it under the rug. This is your part in setting things striaght. I believe this action takes priority in your life, this forgiveness and reconciliation in restoring broken relationships with other people takes immediate precedence over (religious rituals or offerings to God). So before going back to church, before you give your offerings to the Lord, before you come back to worship befoe your God. When Jesus says what He says He wrds that command immeidite action. "first" go and be reconciled without delay before returning to worship. I get from this, that our relationship and worship to God is hindered when our brother has somethng against us, or vise versa, we have something against our brother. Jesus is saying that true spiritual communion with God is hindered when a person knowingly leaves an interpersonal conflict or offense unresolved. Which leaving any church with a broken church and a church that will be hindered in having a good relationship woth God, for everyone attending that church. So then let me ask you this, Have you ever been hurt or offended by a fellow believer, and tried to handle the problem by sweeping it under the bed and pretending nothing happened? How is that working for you? Oh, you try everything, smiling, even when you don't feel like it. But you force yourself to put on a bright, shining, happy face pretending that there is nothing bothering you. You use creams or whatever you can to try an take the worried look off of your face, you try and keep that tired lookj out of your eyes, hoping and praying no one notices or hears about the conflict that happening between the good and the bad inside you. Inwardly you lie to yourself saying if I can keep up this facade and it will all go away. But listen to me now, I know from experience that does not work. As long as you keep burrying it, and keep it bottled up inside you, whether you like it or not, that hurt and offense will one day rise to the surface. For example you crossed paths with the offender at church or didn't agree on something And the other person didn’t give you the exact answer you were looking for. Maybe he simply brushed it off as somethg that wasn't that important. For whatever reason, you were not happy with the responce you got. In this kind of a situation, it is so easy for your fleshly self to slip into a silent mode of self-justification and as a result it springs forward into a little mud-slinging which escalates into name-calling, and into the blame game. At times our fleshly mind takes over and inwardly we think poisonous things about your present situation, thinking this is exactly what I expected from him or her. And saying to yourself, why did I even try to confront him/her. They will never change, they are just plain evil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lets dig a little deper here, rememmbering that the word of God, is like a double edged sword.(Hebrews 4:12) Well what happens is, you allow your feelings to consumed you with negativity that you couldn’t control. Now you are beginning to become a prisoner of your own emotions. Where the negative thoughts keep bouncing off the walls of your heart and your soul is restless and you have no peace. By kicking those wounds under the bed into the darkness that lingers there your just setting them up to fester and to bust open blowing up everything and everyone around you. And not only that but your inner spirit that God placed inside you is condemning you and telling you that you are just as “in the wrong” as they are. Personally I have been in this spot before, its not a nice place to be. So we must learn how to deal with living at peace with everyone as much as it is possible in and of our own ability with Gods help of course.. We can only change ourselves not the other person. Yes, we need to learn ho to deal with the conflict that is raging inside of us, so that we can find peace. #1 in moving to resolve both conflicts the key is to move in the love of God to achieve victory and or peace in our relationships with others in our lives. in so doing we must deal with the condition of our own hearts, that in and of ourselves we are right with God, and then through prayer going into our outward actions in such a way that it will reflect a walk of love. Now what does that look like? Well, those outward steps may be going to your offender to confess your hurt and your part in the conflich, remmebering there is always two sides to every conflict. Ask yourself, what was my part in this conflict In so doing, you are recognizing that there may be some hurt on his or her side as well. Loed willing you will be able to make your relationship right both with that person and with God. This may take eating some humble pie, saying, I am sorry, would you forgive me. Really this is so hard and embarrassing to do, but God has asked me to do so, so I am being obedient.” I know it is the right thing to do, and we all know that, "The truth is, doing the right thing is not always easy". Very often, I know, for me,m my need to confess a hurt often came to my mind when I was in worship or gettingg ready to take communion. We see why this happens, as it is exactly why Jesus spells it out in (Matthew 5:23,24). Read those verses again, where He tells us, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest thou that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Take this verse to heart, and consider what He is saying, Jesus was saying that as you bring a gift to the altar - it could be an offering of a tithe or a financial gift, it could be an act of worship 'leading singing", a prayer, or simply wanting to draw near to God as you are sitting in the pew. And all of a sudden you “remember”, in a flash of a moment, that there is an issue between you and another person. If an issue has suddenly been quickened to your mind when you come before God in prayer or worship, it is likely the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart in order to bring an issue to your attention. I pray one heart is not so desturbed or hardened that you won't resond to that still small voice. It could be something you were not aware of, or something you’ve swept under the bed and didn’t want to face. But when the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart and convicts you it should be a game-changer. Because now you knoe that you are personally responsible to obey and do what He has revealed to you. Remember what Jesus said in that verse, if you suddenly remember your brother has “ought against” you, it is your God-given responsibility to put forth the effort as quickly as possible to make it right. this word “ought” means anything at all. It does not mean it needs to be something that would be considered big. More that it is something the Holy Spirit brought to your mind of something that happened between you and someone else (a brotherin the Lord) a fellow believer, no matter what that may be, big or small it is the Holy Spirit reminding us of Jesus command to leave your gift at the altar, go find that individual, and be “reconciled.” even if it seem a small thing. There is a reason the Holy Spirit has brought it to your mind, and it is your responsiblity to take it seriously and to immediately put it into action,to do, what ever is possible when to comes to you, to make peace. “Reconciled” in Matthew 5:24 refers to a mutual concession after mutual hostility. Now a oncession relinquishing you stance in the argument, surrendering your point, or conceding to someone else, another way of looking at it, is letting it go, not wanting it to be an issue in your life any longer. This meaning is that even if the other person is not willing to let go or to deal with the issue and it is not totally agreed upon, you have at least agreed to disagree and to continue in a right relationship with each other before God. I have learned that often the fact is that many issues that have cause personal relationships and church relationships to break apart are things that people hold on to and allow to wreak havoc in their lives are often very insignificant things. When digging into some of these issues that have split families oe friends of whole churches, there are many who go off the deep end because of emotions that have came because of some very unimportant issues which get magnify and exaggerate and blown out of perprtion in thier minds. Which simlu=y said make a mountian out of a mole Hill and let me say this we are all guilty of hab=ving this happen a few time in our life time.. In saying this, that most of life’s conflicts fall into this category. They are small, temporary, ridiculous, emotional flare-ups that can later be seen in their true light — perhaps humorous or even stupid, but certainly not worthy of getting upset about. But that is not saying that there are some lagitimate concerns that are acctually very mean and hurtful things done in the name of religion or christianity that needs to be dealt with in a proper and healing way. But also in saying this, all of these issues can be serious, when our pride gets involved and we refuse to admit our part in it. Refusing to apologize, and let go of that part. When pride in involved, that is when someone gets offended a way too easily, and a minor offence quickly become an obstical of separation. So, let me say this, if a small issue, has become a big issue,its time to step back, reexamine what we are thinking and feeling, turn our eyes inward and take a self evaluation before moving on. Saying to yourself, imething big, or it it something I can forgive and let go, and are we making a mountian out of a mole hill. Or do we need to do something about it and how? Once you’ve done what the Holy Spirit has told you to do — and you’ve done all you know to do to clear the air and to make wrongs right — the last of verse 24 tells you what to do: “…Then come and offer thy gift.” Hopefully, the other person has received you, but even if he or she doesn’t, at least you can rest knowing you’ve done your best. You’ve done what is necessary to keep a clear conscience and a clean heart before God. Now it’s time to enjoy sweet, unhindered fellowship in the presence of the Lord. MY PRAYER FOR TODAY Father, here in Your light, I see the light of Your truth shining on the reality of the nonsense I’ve allowed to become a dividing wall of offense. I acknowledge my part in this, and I repent of thinking and responding contrary to the love of God. I will not ignore the situation any longer or harden my heart in pride. In obedience to Your Word, I will humbly go to my brother with the sincere desire to make this right. This may be difficult and somewhat embarrassing, but a clear conscience and unhindered fellowship with You means more to me than anything. As I seek to make peace, I entrust the outcome to You, Lord. I pray this in Jesus’ name! MY CONFESSION FOR TODAY I confess that I keep a clear conscience toward God that is void of offense toward any man. I keep myself in the love of God as I continually seek peace and pursue it. I refuse to make mountains out of molehills and allow petty nonsense to escalate into an offense that will produce bitterness in me or in others. I am quick to repent and also quick to forgive. Holy Spirit, I ask You to quicken my heart any time I need to make things right with anyone for any reason. I commit to You that I will do what You tell me to do so I can live peaceably with everyone and enjoy unbroken fellowship with You at all times. I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name! QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER Have you ever been in a time of worship when suddenly your mind became aware of a relationship that needed to be made right — and that you needed to take care of it before you could proceed with anything else in your life? Is there someone who has “ought against” you right now? Or who is that person whom you have “ought against”? What is Jesus asking you to do about this situation?