I hardly noticed the old rancher sitting in the front row of the small Montana church where I was preaching a message on peacemaking, but he was about to make my day.
My text that morning was taken from Matthew 5:23-24, which reads:
So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.
The essence of my message was that our relationships with other people are directly connected to our relationship with God. Therefore, Jesus is telling us that we cannot worship God acceptably unless we have made every reasonable effort to be reconciled to people who may have something against us.
That old rancher disappeared so quickly after the service that I thought I might have offended him. But I soon forgot about him when the pastor invited me to go to lunch at a local restaurant.
We were nearly finished with our meal when the old rancher walked through the door. As soon as he spotted me, he headed across the room, his cowboy boots clunking so rapidly on the old wooden floor that people turned their heads to see who was in such a hurry.
“It works,” he exclaimed as he approached our table, looking me straight in the eye. “It works!”
Not knowing what he was talking about, I asked, “What works?”
“Peacemaking,” he exclaimed. “Going and being reconciled.”
As you can imagine, we invited him to sit down and tell us his story.
“Twenty years ago,” he said, “My neighbor Bob and I had a falling out over whether he should pay half the cost for a new fence between our ranches. We exchanged some sharp words and haven’t said a good thing to each other since then.”
“The Lord convicted me during your sermon, today,” he continued. “So, I drove straight out to Bob’s after church and told him how sorry I was for being so stubborn twenty years ago.”
“He was so surprised he didn’t know what to say. But then his eyes filled with tears, and he said he was sorry, too. You’d have to wait a long time to see two old cowboys crying and hugging like we did. And that was it. We’re reconciled.”
You can imagine how that simple but heartfelt testimony made my day. All I could do as I drove back to Billings was rejoice and praise God.
I share this story to gently challenge you. Are you ready to follow that old rancher’s example?
As you reflect on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:23-24, can you think of a relationship God is calling you to restore? Someone who you’ve failed to fully forgive or who is struggling to forgive you?
There is no better time of the year to pursue reconciliation. This is a season when many hearts are softened and people long to restore past relationships.
It’s also an especially meaningful time to live out the marvelous truth spoken by the angels the night of Jesus’ birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14).
This declaration presents a rich, reciprocal promise. When our highest goal is to glorify God, to please and honor him above all else, we find the power to overcome our pride, fear and self-righteousness and reach out to seek peace with those around us.
And when we seek peace with others, especially those who least expect us to approach them, we bring glory to God by reflecting the reconciling grace he has shown to us through Christ. For “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
With these promises in mind, I encourage you to pray that God will bring one or more people to mind whom he wants you to go to in a spirit of love and humility to seek reconciliation. Although some past conflicts may require detailed conversations or informal mediation (see helpful resources here), many past offenses can be resolved with the same kind of simple confession that old rancher offered to Bob.
There is no guarantee the other party will respond like Bob did, but you’ll never know until you try. And no matter what, your effort will please and honor God.
~ Ken Sande
