If your brother sins against you,
Go and show him his fault,
Go and show him his fault,
Just between the two of you.
If he listens to you,
You have won your brother over.
Matthew 18:15, NIV
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I love this verse.
There are so many verses in the bible
That simply tell us,
How to live.
How to handle things.
How to solve every day problems.
Correctly.
Responsibly.
Lovingly.
This specific verse reminds us
that we do not have to overlook
Or ignore a problem that hurts us,
And that it is okay to confront an issue,
But that we are to do so
In a private
And respectful way.
Yes.
God intended for us to live an
Honest,
Hardworking,
Quiet,
Compassionate,
Grateful life,
Respectfully!
Yet, when I look around,
I can’t help but to see that we live in a world
That does not seem to know the definition of couth.
We see spouses who can’t get into an argument
Without letting their entire family hear about their hurts.
We see reality shows
Full of people who find it acceptable to curse and yell
Full of people who find it acceptable to curse and yell
At each other publicly when they are angry.
We witness friends and families
Who when they have disagreements,
Use social media
To put their loved ones on blast.
However, this is not God's way...
God’s way
Is
When we
Treat each other with love.
...confronting each other privately,
...and forgiving each other willingly.
When we truly value the relationship
We have with someone,
We do not address issues,
To prove our how perfect we are,
Or to win an argument…
We confront issues to help and to heal people.
Our intentions should be to solve a problem,
To prevent a “wrong” from happening again,
To help a loved one who is making hurtful choices,
Or to try to heal a damaged relationship.
We can’t repair a hurting relationship,
By causing more hurt.
By posting about our anger on Facebook.
By getting our children involved in our disputes.
By gossiping
And by openly disrespecting each other.
Confronting the issues privately,
Is not a promise that the problems will be resolved.
We cannot determine how another person will react,
This is why He says,
“If He listens to you,
You have won your brother over.”
We cannot control our “brothers”
Our friends, children, coworkers and spouses,
However, we can control our own behavior.
We choose our character.
We can practice
Compassion,
Honesty
Love,
And
Peace.
And one of the ways that we can do this
Is by learning to apply
Matthew 18:15
To our daily lives.
He has taught me that the best way
To maintain
Loving and respectful
Relationships
Is to
Confront each other quietly
and
Love each other loudly.
