Broken fellowship | Robert & Kay Camenisch

“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?

“Is it a sin to be angry at God?” I sensed that the one who questioned had a personal interest in knowing the answer.

It’s a good question. I don’t believe the Bible states the answer directly, but there are some facts that give clues as to the answer.

God gets angry, so anger itself is not necessarily a sin.
God isn’t intimidated when people get angry at Him.
1. When Cain got angry at Him for rejecting his sacrifice, God asked, “Why are you angry?” (Gen. 4:5)
2. When Jonah got angry because God didn’t bring calamity on the Ninevites and when he got angry about the plant drying up, God asked, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4, 9)
3. When the Jews became angry at Jesus for healing a man, He asked, “…are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (John 7:23).
In each situation, God responded to man’s anger with a question. He turned the focus back to the heart of the angry person. Why are you angry? Jesus added a warning which questions the judgment that led to anger.

If we get angry at God, rather than pointing fingers at Him, we need to ask ourselves why we’re angry, and we need to search our hearts to find the answer.

IF the Lord acted unrighteously toward us, we might have a reason to get angry, but that won’t happen. His ways are always righteous, just, and loving. We may not understand the hows and whys, but if the action is from the hand of God, it is good.

Most of the time, we get angry because we’re self-centered instead of God-centered. We react in anger when things aren’t going the way we think they should.

Cain reacted when God didn’t approve of his sacrifice.

Jonah took it personally when his predictions for the destruction of Ninevah didn’t take place. Then he got mad because the vine—which grew supernaturally fast to shade Jonah—wilted. Jonah wasn’t grateful for the shade God had provided; he was just angry when it was gone. His anger grew from his focus on himself and what he wanted rather than on God’s purposes.

Jesus questions about the Jews and their judgment of Him healing on the Sabbath brings the question back to individual heart condition. Which is important, making a man well, or forcing legalities on people that bind them?

Asking, “Is anger against God a sin?” is probably the wrong question to ask. If we are angry at God, we need to ask, “Why am I angry?

Am I angry because I want God to do things my way? Do I have enough faith to let God be God and trust Him with the results when things don’t go my way?”

Asking, “Why am I mad?” offers opportunity to find the real sin in our hearts, the sin of wanting to be god, of wanting things to go our way instead of God’s. The sin of ungratefulness, judgment, or lack of faith. (Or maybe it’s something else.)

As long as we’re angry at Him, our fellowship is broken. Likewise, as long as we harbor sin, our fellowship with Him is broken.

God knows we’re self-centered and that we will get angry. Even if being angry at Him is sin, He isn’t surprised or flustered by it.

Instead, when we become angry at Him, He would probably ask us a question. He probably wants us examine our motives so we can take care of the sin that led us to be angry.

When we take care of the underlying unrighteousness, we will find that the anger is gone and we can once again trust Him and fellowship with Him.

Robert & Kay Camenisch encouraging and equipping relationships

Breaking a Barrier to Intimacy with the Lord

Is It a Sin to Be Angry at God?