"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
5:23-24
We are all sinful human beings
capable of unspeakable acts. We all experience times of immaturity and
foolishness in our lives. Oh, how foolish and unreasonable we sinners can be at
times. Hopefully, we will mature as we grow older.
Sadly, some people never grow up.
They think the world centers around them. They think they are the only ones
having any problems. They're just like little spoiled babies throwing a tantrum
because they can't have their way. They are reckless and don't care who they
hurt.
Everyone has problems, but those
problems don't give us a right to hurt others. If we do hurt others, then we
are OBLIGATED by God to make RECONCILIATION and RESTITUTION with our victims.
We should attempt to right our wrongs if possible. In some situations, it may
be better to leave the matter in the Lord's hands for judgment day. But, be
forearmed that if we don't take care of the matter, then God will (Romans
12:19). God gives us a chance to make matters right outside of court... 1st
Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”
Reconciled: Defined from
Strong's Greek Concordance, from dia - dia and allassw - allasso; to change
thoroughly, i.e. (mentally) to conciliate:—reconcile.
Reconciliation begins with
repentance on our part, i.e., a "change" of mind. This is when we
realize the error of our way and desire to make things right. This change of
mind will lead us to make re-conciliation.
God says that we must
“re-conciliate” the matter with the one whom we have wronged.
Conciliate means to:
1. Cause
to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
2. Come
to terms
3. Make
compatible with
So “re-conciliation” means to
return to a state of conciliation (RE-conciliate). “Conciliation” is when we
honor our agreements with other people and they are in agreement with us.
Conciliation is when no one can call us a crook, liar, or thief. If we defraud
someone(s), then we are commanded by God to restore everything to a condition
of conciliation. We need to come to terms with the person(s) we hurt. We need
to make things right once again. When we hurt someone in any way, there is no
conciliation. The only way we can ever reconcile (re-conciliate) a matter is by
making RESTITUTION. This is God's method for us to come to terms with someone
whom we have wronged. All of the civil laws given to God's people in the Bible
were based upon RESTITUTION.
RESTITUTION:
1. A
sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury
2. The
act of restoring something to its original state
3. Getting
something back again
While in Jesus' presence, Zacchaeus
was convicted about the people he had hurt in the past and wanted to make
things right with God. Zacchaeus knew what he needed to do. He needed to make
RESTITUTION.
"And Zacchaeus stood, and said
unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I
have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him
fourfold." —Luke 19:8
Have you hurt someone? Have you
reneged on your part of a business agreement? Have you caused pain and loss for
others? Then you are obligated by God to reconcile the matter (i.e., “to
restore” as Zacchaeus did). For minor offenses, an apology may be all that is
required. However, in situations where money or loss is involved, full
restitution must be made. If you have done wrong, then you need to make
reconciliation through restitution.
The Bible teaches that we are to do
unto others as we would have them do unto us. Matthew 7:12, "Therefore all
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them:
for this is the law and the prophets."
It wouldn't have been enough for
Zacchaeus to simply apologize to his victims. His victims lost money, they were
cheated and suffered a financial loss. It doesn't matter how wealthy or poor
they were, Zacchaeus robbed them! Zacchaeus pleased the Lord only by making
restitution. Also noticed that Zacchaeus returned FOURFOLD the amount of money
which he cost his victims. In today's cut-throat world, such restitution is
almost unheard of anymore. Very few people are willing to make restitution, let
along return more than they took (i.e., punitive damages). Restitution is a
Biblical teaching and practice.
Justice Means Balancing the Scales
Justice is often symbolized by a
weighing scale. When someone hurts another person, the scale is out of balance.
The only way for the scale to be restored to balance is for the offender to
make full restitution. Justice is a balancing of the scales. Proverb 11:1
declares, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight
is his delight." We don't see much justice in the world today.
Does God expect us to forgive
someone(s) who has no intent on making restitution? Yes, of course; however,
this in no way relieves them of responsibility and accountability for their
actions. We certainly ought not trust them at that point. We must not hate
them, but we have every right to demand restitution. Just because we forgive
someone does not alleviate them of the judgment facing them. This is hard for
some people to understand. Forgiveness and restitution are two separate events.
We can forgive a person while still demanding justice. Life is too short to
live with a burden of hatred. We must learn to forgive others, even if they are
cold-hearted and unrepentant.
Jesus taught in Matthew 18:22 to
forgive not 7 times a day; but 70 times 7 times a day (that's 490 times). I'd
say that means unlimited forgiveness to those who genuinely want it. Wouldn't
you say so? How can forgive 490 times in one day This truth does not give
anyone God's permission to sin (Romans 3:31), and we all are obligated by God
to love the Lord and obey Him as John 14:15 and 15:14 teach. Obedience is not
an option. Disobedient believers will face the terror of the Lord at the
Judgment Seat of Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:11), because they will not be
accepted of Him (2nd Corinthians 5:9) and it will not go agreeable for them at
their judgment.
Matthew 12:36, "But I say unto
you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment." Jesus said to lend, giving to each who ask of
you, hoping to receive not again. Obviously, the Lord didn't mean give your
food money and rent payment away so you'd end up on the street homeless. Don't
leave commonsense at the cover of the Bible. God is a very practical God if you
understand the Scriptures.
Jesus said to “sell that ye have”
and give alms (help to the poor). How many of us have ever sold our possessions
to give to the poor? Most people have never really sacrificed. Most people have
never given God anything more than spare time and pocket change. The Bible says
that pure religion is to help the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and yet remain unspotted from the sinful world (James 1:27). Most big charities
today pay out 6-digit figures to their CEO's. That's not what the Lord was talking
about. Beware of fat-cat charities!!! God has entrusted us as stewards of His
money that He has given to us. Don't be a tithing fool. Make sure that you are
supporting a legitimate ministry that uplifts the King James Bible and the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Nearly all charities today are secular and accomplish
nothing for Christ. The gospel is not preached. No one gets saved. Christ is
not honored and the Bible is forgotten. This includes 501c3 religious groups
too.
You should NEVER lend out money
that you need to pay your prior financial obligations, support your family, or
pay your bills. You're a fool if you do. The government's not relocating
churches to India and China, or Mexico. They're relocating American jobs to
foreign soil; yet your pastor wants you to give, give, give. With what? Your
nice job went to China? Your pastor wants you to work 3 jobs to support him,
but he's only working one job. Don't be a fool. If you can give, great; but
increasingly a lot of people simply cannot without giving away food money. God
doesn't tell us to financial support preachers! God wants us to give to the
poor, and to support the preaching of the gospel and the work of the Church. I
wouldn't give a dime to anyone who's not preaching the gospel.
Living At Peace with Others
It is important to God that we
strive to maintain peace at all times, whether it be at home, in our
neighborhood, or our nation. No one should want to go to war; but war is the
way to maintain peace, if necessary. Romans 12:18-21 teach for us as believers
to allow God to make good on His PROMISE to RECOMPENSE our enemies evil for
evil. This is what God has promised to each and every believer. It is a matter
of faith. If we genuinely believe that God is going to punish our enemies, then
we can "let it go" and put it into God's hands for another time and
place. "Let go, let God!"
God is telling us to live at
peaceably, IF POSSIBLE, with all men. Of course, this won't always be possible,
because of the sinful pride, arrogance, stubbornness, and wickedness of
humanity. Some people are just evil, sad to say...
Romans 12:18-21, “If it be
possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written,
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy
hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good.”
What a wonderful set of Scriptures.
God is telling us NOT to strike back, nor to get even by rendering evil for
evil. God does not want anyone taking the law into their own hands to hurt
somebody. There are many truths to consider when studying these Bible verses.
Justice is equalizing out the scales, bringing things back into balance and
harmony, or as they say, zeroing-out-the-scale. God wants us to bless those who
curse, and to do good to those who do us personal harm. If we don't, then the
only other option is to render evil for evil and then we're no better than our
heathen enemies.
Regarding law, the Bible teaches an
eye-for-an-eye, and a tooth-for-a-tooth. That's balancing the scale. I use this
scale scenario a lot when I ask myself, have I wronged anybody? Is the scale
balanced? Did they lose something on my behalf? Is there an inequality? If so,
I'll go out of my way to balance that scale, because I fear God (Romans 3:18).
Sometimes there's no way that I can balance the scale, and I must place the
matter into God's hands to judge the matter in eternity. This is why Sarah said
to Hagar; and likewise David said to Saul... “The Lord judge between me and
thee.”
When there is unresolved conflict
and reconciliation is out of reach, impossible; then we are to pray, let it go,
and cast our burdens upon the Lord and leave them there (Philippians 4:6-7; 1st
Peter 5:7). What else can we do? That's not to say that we should just go our
merry way if we have wronged someone; it just means that sometimes there's
nothing we can do and have to wait upon the Lord and trust His mercy and
judgment to deal with the matter on Judgment Day.
If you have wronged anyone, try to
make it right. Go to them and work out an arrangement to pay them back if you
owe them money. If you hurt them, apologize and ask what it would take to make
things right. You're not seeking friendship here, you're wanting to right your
wrongs now, so that God won't have to do it on Judgment Day when you stand to
give account (Romans 14:10-12). Some people will work with you, others will
curse and hate you until your dead.
With people like that all you can
do is either making reconciliation from a distance (such as mail them some
money or an apologize), or simply pray and give that burden to God. And this
ought to be considered burdens to you. Anytime we hurt someone, it ought to be
a BURDEN (something weighing heavily down upon our soul) until we reconcile,
make restitution, and remedy the situation. That is justice. If we have caused
another person's mind and heart to grieve with a heavy burden, for any immoral
or unethical reason, then we have wronged them. Jesus said in Matthew 5:9,
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” I
am speaking about making peace in this article. When you reestablish a just
scale (i.e., a balanced scale) then there is justice, and justice makes peace.
This is why Romans 5:1 states,
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Christ's blood sacrifice brings peace unto all men who believe
on Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 20:31). There can be
NO peace with God through vain religion, good works, ritualistic ceremonies,
nor the Confessional Booth; but only by faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God
Who paid for our sins. Jesus Christ died on a cross, was buried, and rose again
3 days later (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus paid our sin debt in full, so that
we wouldn't have to spend eternity burning in Hell fire. Jesus' blood sacrifice
appeased the wrath of God against sinners, bringing JUSTICE by applying His
shed blood to the mercy seat in the heavenly Holy Place (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24).
Salvation is now freely available to all who will BELIEVE on Jesus as the
Christ, Who came into the world to save men from their sins (John 3:17).
If we don't let a matter go, then
we can easily become overtaken by evil ourselves, stooping down to the level of
our enemies, failing to exemplify Christ in our lives. Romans 12:21 says to
overcome evil with good instead, by doing good no matter what others may do to
us, say about us, think about us, or do to maliciously hurt us and destroy our
reputation. Just as our Lord, we ought to be willing to do what it takes to
make matters right, even if it means giving our last dollar, our coat, our
home, or whatever is required to right our wrongs in this life.
Jesus mentioned if a man "sue
thee." Obviously, Jesus is speaking about something one did to offend
another. So, in matters where we are wrong, Jesus said to turn the other cheek
as well, and to give up our other coat, if need be, and to do everything
possible to reconcile the matter. This restores justice, and peace is a
byproduct of justice.
Sometimes Only God Can Make Things
Right
A perfect example is a mother who
has an abortion and then years later repents toward God. She now repents having
killed her child. Now she realizes that she murdered her baby, likely talked
into a hasty abortion by a case-worker or Planned Parenthood social worker...
The government is eager, with deep
pockets just waiting to abort; bring one, bring two, bring them all; we want
them all dead so none live to grow tall; abort for this, abort for that, abort
wherever you're at; a time to play, a time to read, a time to kill a child who
will never play nor read; little ones, big ones, the abortion center is where
it's at.
Abortion is injustice. The Bible
says that the blood of Abel cried out from the ground to God in Genesis 4:10,
“And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto
me from the ground.” So does also the blood of over 51,000,000 aborted American
children cry out to God from the grave to God... WE WANT JUSTICE! And they will
have it, they WILL HAVE IT! Isaiah 13:11, “And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy
of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” I
love everyone and don't want to see anything bad happen to anyone, God knows my
heart. I am simply preaching the Word of God my friend. God is warning humanity
of what is coming our way, and it's not very pretty for the wicked.
It makes God sick when politicians
(governors) refuse to give clemency to prisoners on death row; but then they
move on to bigger-and-better pursuits in The White House, killing millions of
innocent people with the stroke of a pen, and no one is ever even indicted, and
the criminal news media covers it all up and protects the monstrous
politicians. Meanwhile it's the everyday struggling Americans who continue to
be demonized by the mainstream news media. I call the lying mainstream news
media corporate whores, home-wreckers, and manure-spreaders.
God wants us to do our very best
with the Holy Spirit's help to live in peace with others. Sometimes the only
way to do this is to leave things in God's hands for judgment. We are not to
render evil for evil against our enemies, which will only make matters worse
and perhaps with deadly consequences. People are going to commit offences
toward us, in every way, fashion, and form. I sometimes feel like a moving
target for Satan, because one person after another do mean, horrible, and
unspeakable things to hurt me. You wouldn't believe some of the abusive things
people have done to hurt me, just to be cruel, try to get rid of me, get even
with me, hurt my feelings, or they were simply having a bad day and taking it
out on me. The Bible says to place these matters into God's hands for judgment.
Literally, let God sort them out,
and He will I assure you because He has PROMISED in Romans 12:19 to avenge us.
Jesus said in Matthew 18:7, “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it
must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence
cometh!” Jesus warned that offences will inevitably come, because man's sinful
nature is everywhere around us in our carnally-minded, morally-toxic, cesspool
of iniquity, reprobate culture in America (1st John 5:19). We have abandoned
God as a nation (Deuteronomy 6:12).
Many retailer stores, painters, and
art crafters are now selling statues of idols to set in people's living rooms,
or keep one in your car. Superstition is a road to Hell, blinding men's minds
from the genuine truth of God. Some people would rather worship a car tire that
they can kick, then to worship the great and divine God of the universe simply
because they cannot see Him.
You have NO RIGHT Scripturally to
expect someone to accept an apology from you, until you FIRST make full
RESTITUTION. They have every right to demand back the money you cost them. They
have every right to expect God to avenge them. Even if the person forgives you,
you are still Scripturally obligated to right your wrongs. There is no justice
until all of the elements in the imbalance are leveled out. Hurt feelings is
one of the worst, and God has to deal with those too on Judgment Day.
This is why Jesus said men will be
held accountable even for their words on Judgment Day (Matthew 12:36). 2nd
Corinthians 5:9 speaks of being “accepted of Him” (i.e., well pleasing so that
things will go agreeably in one's favor when on trial). Those who are not
well-pleasing will face the “TERROR OF THE LORD” in 2nd Corinthians 5:10-11.
This is the Judgment Seat of Christ only for the saints. In those matters where
one either refuses or is unable to right their wrongs, then God will do so as
Judge in eternity.
“That no man goes beyond and
defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all
such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.” —1st Thessalonians 4:6
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