Matthew 18:15
New Living Translation (NLT)
Correcting Another Believer
15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.
Resentment. Anger. Attitudes. Offences. Misinterpretations. Grudges. Dishonesty. Hard Feelings. Hurtfulness. Trash is ugly in its’ self, however it gets uglier when it belongs to someone else. Where I am going with this is simple, if you have a problem with someone, instead of taking it out on another unsuspecting person, go to the person who offended you in the first place and take care of business. There is no excuse for pushing your anger towards one person onto someone else who has no idea what is going on. Others hurt and offend us on a daily basis. Sometimes we allow this to build up over time and it consumes us internally until one wrong word from someone else and we lose it. We begin to throw daggers and harsh words at this person and they find themselves getting defensive and then it’s just full blown warfare. And why? All because we begin to operate out of woundedness.
How many times do we do this? We are fearful of going to the person who hurt us in the first place and we begin to start wars everywhere we go, even at the bank teller or the cashier at the grocery store. Perhaps we get angry at the drivers around us when really they did nothing wrong. Whatever the situation may be, we direct our anger often times at the wrong people. How can we stop this insane cycle of undeserved blaming and lashing out? Simple. Go to the person who offended you, hash it out, ask for forgiveness, make amends, do what ever it takes to make it right so you may begin to heal the wound that was inflicted upon you.
Let’s compare this to a leaky faucet: until you fix the leak, it is going to continue to drip causing you frustration and aggravation. Until you actually go to the faucet and fix it physically, you are going to have to deal with the constant irritating drip. It will drip until it drives you crazy and you just explode on the next thing that comes you way, like the dog or your husband or your unsuspecting six year old. We often lash out all of a sudden like a volcano that has been brewing and bubbling for awhile and the victims are usually ones who have no idea that we are harboring some wound. How unfair to them that we explode from some simple thing which sets us off.
This is where respect comes in. You have to have enough respect for your fellow humans to correct wrong behaviors or straighten out wrong perceptions. Who are you angry with? Has someone wounded you and you have yet to deal with it? Do you see this person everyday and pretend things are okay when underneath you have this bubbling molten ready to erupt? I challenge you today to search your heart and ask God to show you how to handle the situation and then pray He gives you the right opportunity to approach this person or persons. God will give you the grace if you are willing to be face to face.
