Walk around without shoes for a day, and one thing is certain. You may or may not stub your toe. You may or may not cut your foot on a sharp stone. But you most certainly will end the day with dirty feet. It’s the nature of the thing.
The nature of humanity is to make bad choices, make mistakes, and hurt people, intentionally or unintentionally. As believers, we still make mistakes. We know God forgives us, and we know the Holy Spirit is making us more like Jesus every day. That’s what it means to fully follow him. But we still sin, and people still get hurt. In this section of Matthew, Jesus tells his followers – and us – how to deal with these situations.
First Jesus teaches of God’s forgiveness of us. In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus says God desires that no one should perish. This is why Jesus died on our behalf, to pay the debt that we owed for our disobedience to God.
Then Jesus tells us to confront other believers if we see them continuing to sin. This is a hard one. We don’t like conflict, and we know we’re no better, so we avoid such situations. “It’s between them and God,” we think. Jesus says otherwise.
But finally, Jesus tells us to forgive. If we confront that person’s sin and they apologize, or even if someone sins against us and doesn’t apologize, we forgive them because we know we are forgiven. Following these principles doesn’t mean we won’t get hurt – walking without shoes will still make your feet dirty – but our lives will have more peace.
The overarching theme of this section is forgiveness, but if you need more specific guidance on handling conflict, check out our Bible reading plan on Conflict Resolution.
Prayer: God, confronting sin is hard. Show me if there is someone I need to lovingly confront. More than that, please show me if there is anyone I need to forgive, or anyone I need to apologize to. You have forgiven me, and I want there to be peace between me and the people in my life. Amen.