Easier Said Than Done?

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault,

 just between the two of you.

If they listen to you, you have won them over.”

Matthew 18:15

As a preacher I used to listen to would say to the words above:

“My, my, my, my, my, my!”

The scripture verse above were words from Jesus’ own lips by the way.

But here is how the first part of that verse might read if it reflected how we often behave:

“If my brother or sister sins, I will go and point out their fault, just between me and a couple dozen of my friends...”

Ouch!

That hurt (as the truth often does).

Why do we do that?

Sometimes it’s because we lack the courage to deal with them face-to-face.

Sometimes, its’ simply because we don’t really want to be reconciled and we would rather hold a grudge and just let our anger simmer for a bit.

Whatever the reasons, imagine if we actually behaved according to Jesus’ words?

 How much stronger might our relationship be?

True, some might be offended and not ever speak to you again but you are not responsible for their reaction.

You are responsible for your own behavior.

I am grateful for those in my life who care enough about me to be honest whenever I mess up (and I do that often enough!).

But I also must care enough about them too.

Love sometimes must confront.

When it does, it does not cease to be love.

As you read the Gospels you will find occasions where Jesus spoke words that we might think were quite harsh.

But they were necessary or He would not have spoken them.

This is not a post giving you permission to be cruel with your words.

Rather, I am encouraging you to courageously hear and obey the words of Jesus!