Day 17: Fighting for Relationships
Read it: Proverbs 17:17, Matthew 5:23-24, Romans 12:18
Live it:
Do you have a relationship that needs reconciliation? Our first scripture today tells us that reconciliation is so important that if we are in church and the offering bucket goes by and we have something to give to the church but we remember that our brother or sister has something against us, we are supposed to not offer our gift until we have reconciled! After we reconcile, then we are to come and offer our gift. Sounds like reconciliation is important to God!
But what do we do when the other person is not taking the step to reconcile? Worse yet, what if we believe they need to fix themselves before we can reconcile with them? Unfortunately, we can’t fix someone else. We can pray for them and intercede for them, but we can never fix them. We can influence them, but we can never fix them. We can only point ourselves to Jesus, point them to Jesus, and work on our own issues.
“Nothing will make us so charitable and tender to the faults of others, as, by self-examination, thoroughly to know our own.” – Francois Fenelon
Self-examination does more for developing our ability to reconcile and forgive than any other discipline I know. Self-examination does more for developing your ability to have compassion than any other discipline I know. But we have to train at it, and even though it might be difficult, it is worth the investment.
Ps. James