God's Way Works

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Jesus

A New Take On Knowing When to Apologize

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For the longest time I have struggled with Matthew 5:23-26:

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny (ESV).

My struggle? Exactly when do I have to make amends? If I want to avoid “prison,” when do I actually have to let someone know I was wrong, apologize and make amends?

Lately, however, I have had a completely different approach. I have realized my past struggle had everything out of whack. I was looking for a line to be good enough to get into heaven because I achieved some kind of good enough checklist obedience to this apology clause in God’s constitution. Therefore, I never drew the line at the right place.

Why do I need to make amends like this? Not because there is some kind of law that says in certain cases God requires I go apologize and make amends. Rather, because in my heart, I know when I have done wrong. That establishes a discordant cycle of guilt. Even if someone else has wronged me, when I have done wrong, I feel it. Something has to be done with that guilt. It won’t just sit there long. It starts to eat at me. It produces shame, the feeling that says not only did I do something wrong but I keep doing things wrong because something is wrong with me. Then I start giving up.

Or the guilt takes me another direction. If I don’t deal with the guilt God’s way by making amends and seeking reconciliation, Satan convinces me to deal with it his way. As with Eve, he convinces me if I eat some of the forbidden fruit, I will feel better. I will have internal peace and contentment. To escape the guilt, shame and pain of the past wrong, I end up sinning more. Of course, that only produces more of the same discordant guilt.

I break this cycle by not worrying about if God has absolutely required I make this particular amends and just make the amends. When I admit my wrong, apologize and ask for forgiveness, it releases the guilt. It allows me to connect with other people and it sets me free to reconnect with God.

Do you absolutely have to make that amends in order to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s and obey enough to get into heaven? Does it matter? Just make the amends anyway. I know this, you’ll certainly be right with God if you take that approach. 

May God richly bless you as you draw closer to Him.
More importantly, may you richly bless God.

ELC

11 Ways to be an Unremarkably Average Christian

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Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings, he will not stand before unknown men.” That’s all well and good, but the more I think about it, the more I recognize that excellence is overrated. I mean, only a minority ever excel. If everyone started doing it, it wouldn’t be excelling any more, would it? The fact is, most folks never get beyond average. That is why we call it average, because most folks are doing it. With that in mind, I have developed a very simple plan to attain average.

 

 

 

 I share with you 11 ways to be an unremarkably average Christian.

  1. Equate Christianity with “going to church.”
  2. Only do what the preacher proves you absolutely have to do.
  3. Fit spirituality in around everything else.
  4. Overextend yourself financially.
  5. If someone strikes you, hit him back.
  6. Never confess to your brothers and sisters.
  7. Only forgive others if they have earned it and never say you’re sorry.
  8. Never change your opinion on anything.
  9. Never talk to others about spiritual things.
  10. Don’t get out of the boat.
  11. Never worry about being average, no one will ever question you about it.
To learn more or to download the audio of the expanded lesson, go here and here.
 
Nods to Chris Guillebeau for inspiring this idea.
ELC