“If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matt. 5:23-24).

People often get upset or bent out of shape for no apparent reason, and it’s often difficult to approach them to clear things up.

The more troubled or difficult the relationship is, the easier it is to leave things along and just hope and pray that they get better. That is especially true if you don’t see that person often.

But there is a major problem with that approach to resolving a problem. These verses tell us that if someone else has something against us, our relationship with the Lord is hampered until we go to that other person and be reconciled.

Maybe the other relationship isn’t important, but what about your relationship with God? Are you willing to have that blocked  because of a misunderstanding with a co-worker, friend, or family member?

It can be very difficult to say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong; will you forgive me?”. However, when that relationship was broken, your relationship with God was broken too.

Fellowship with God will not be restored until you reconcile the broken earthly relationship.

It’s worth the effort.

Before going to make things right, be sure to:

• recognize your own fault–that is. take the log out of your own eye,
• ask the Lord to prepare the way before you,
• prepare ahead of time what you will say, being sure to not cast blame on the other person or defend yourself,
• go in the spirit of love, seeking reconciliation–not “justice” for or confession from the other person.

Even if you are not fully reconciled with the person, if you go in humility and the spirit of love, you will find that fellowship with the Lord will be restored. Furthermore, in time the earthly relationship might turn around.

I’ve had to go way out of my way to reconcile with people I rarely interacted with but who had ought against me–and some of those times I felt I was innocent of wrong-doing. Every time, it’s released my relationship with the Lord to a new level of intimacy.

It’s worth the effort. Jesus wants to dine with us and us with Him in an intimate setting. He’s knocking and waiting on us (Rev. 3:20-21).

Have you experienced renewed intimacy with the Lord when you’ve left your gift at the alter to go and be reconciled with someone?