Monday March 7, 2011

Theme: Enemy Love

Weekend Music links on iTunes: All to You - Lincoln Brewster, Happy Day - Tim Hughes, Hosanna - Hillsong, Attention - Know Hope Collective

Think: The closer a person is to us, the easier he/she is to confront. For example, if my spouse or my children do something hurtful, I respond fairly quickly to the matter. So quick, in fact, that I rarely think through the offense thoroughly enough to do it in a spirit of love and grace.

However, if a person outside of this circle of closeness, say a friend, acquaintance or someone I work with does something hurtful, I suddenly swing to the other side of confrontation continuum and do something called, “overlooking the offense.” I usually will be overlooking this offense because confronting the offense may feel too awkward or risky. If I’m really hurt by him/her, I will be tempted to go to someone else to talk about it and “vent”. But this is usually just to make myself feel important or better than the person. This is passive aggressive, because I’m too passive to confront the offender, and aggressive enough to stain that person’s reputation. Pretty ugly, really.

So Jesus offers a different way- a way that keeps his purpose of redemption at the core. He says, ““If your fellow believer sins against you,  go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again.” Jesus’ way makes me acknowledge the issue of hurt to myself and the offender. His way doesn’t allow me to ignore it or pretend it didn’t happen, but it doesn’t allow me take revenge on the offender by slandering them either. He wants for me and the person who hurt me to be redeemed to each other. He knows that I’m going to be the one hurting someone else sooner or later, and He wants me to have the same chance at making it right.

We can really do a person a disservice by not obeying Jesus’ command and talking to them in private about the hurt they’ve caused. Maybe that person has no idea he is coming across the way he is, and you are able to give him the feedback he needs in a loving way. But be sure, that you will be on the other end some day, and you’ll want that person to be full of grace.

Do: Thanks God, for making a plan of how to respond to an offense between Christian believers. You know we are prone to hurting eachother, and you teach us how to repair it. Help me to follow in your teachings.

Pray:  Be aware of where you swing on the confrontation pendulum and take a step at making it right.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.