ESOCS Devotional 17 October 2021
TEXT: MATTHEW 18: 11-22
MEMORY VERSE: “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” (Matthew 5: 23-14 KJV).
Christianity has been nick-named “The Ministry of Reconciliation” Hence; the basic Messianic mission on planet earth is to reconcile fallen man to the Father. (Luke 15: 17-24; Isaiah 6:8). There are always two parties in a conflict. In Matt. 5:23-24, Jesus gave counsel to the offending party, who had need to give offering unto the Lord. But he had a pending case against him by a brother. In this scenario, the Christian is at a risk of having his offering rejected. The advice of the Master is that it will be useless to worship God when one has sinned against his brother. It follows therefore that, in a situation of this nature, reconciliation with one’s brother is necessary, before one can worship or give a meaningful offering to God. In other words, it will be useless for one to claim to relate with the Lord God of love and mercy, while harbouring a heart of hate that shows no mercy. But both the offender and the offended have responsibility to approach each other, in order to make peace and get fully reconciled.
Moreover, there is a background reason behind the above lessons from the Lord Jesus: since the Church is a community of believers, the Lord gave these instructions, as a pointer to the need for unity in the fold, and learning to forgive one another. The Church today would do well to pay close attention to these principles of pastoral care, and inter-personal relations.
- Do not allow enmity between you and anyone. It is sin.
- Holy Spirit Divine, teach me to swallow my pride, and to follow Jesus. Amen
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
FURTHER READING: Proverbs 3: 11-20; Nahum 2: 3-12; Acts 13:42, 14:7
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ESOCS Devotional 17 October 2021
