Do you have a sense of guilt over something from your past? Is there someone to whom you need to make amends or restitution? Restitution is restoring or paying back something that has been lost, stolen, or damaged. Maybe it’s not something you actually stole. Maybe you hurt or sinned against someone and you need to seek forgiveness. Is there a letter you need to write or a call you need to make? Could not doing so be hindering your relationship with God?
Today’s Readings:
Lamentations 3, 4 & 5
Psalm 119.145-152
Proverbs 28.11
Philemon 1-25
Do You Need to Make Restitution or Amends?
Philemon 1-25:
Going Back
I love this little book. There are some great principles contained in these 25 verses.
Paul was writing to Philemon about a runaway slave by the name of Onesimus. In God’s providence, Onesimus had met Paul in Rome where he heard and received the gospel. Now Paul was sending him back to his master to make restitution and to submit himself to the authority that God had originally placed him under.
8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ— 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, 11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. 14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
Paul could have just told Philemon what he needed to do, but instead, he appealed to him as a brother and a friend (Mk. 10.42-43). But he also wanted Onesimus to do the right thing, to go back and make restitution.
Making Restitution or Amends
And like Onesimus, just because God forgives us for our sins when we put our faith and trust in Him, it doesn’t mean we don’t need to make amends to people we’ve hurt or wronged in some way.
Is there someone from your past to whom you need to make restitution? Restitution is restoring or paying back something that has been lost, stolen, or damaged. Is there someone you need to go to and seek forgiveness? Is there a letter you need to write or a call you need to make? Perhaps that other person hurt you, too, but have you taken responsibility for your part without blameshifting or minimizing your sin? If not, why not pray about the best and most God-honoring way to do so?
Hurting Your Relationship with God?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
God puts a high priority on the condition of our relationships. When we sin against others, our sin is first against God. So, attempting to worship Him with unreconciled relationships is hypocritical. Notice verse 23 says, “your brother has something against you.” You may not hold something against him or her but there is some kind of a problem between you. When that is the case we should do our best to make things right. In the end, we cannot control the other person’s heart or their responses but we should do our part to seek or grant forgiveness (Rom. 12.18).
If that lack of reconciliation is between us and our spouse, it’s even more important. So much so that God told husbands their prayers would be hindered if they didn’t treat their wives well. And Ephesians 4.26 says we are not to let the sun go down on our anger. We are to deal with issues quickly and regularly.
For more information about handling the past biblically, you might want to get a copy of the book, Putting Your Past in Its Place: Moving Forward in Freedom and Forgiveness by Stephen Viars.
Today’s Other Readings:
Lamentations 3-5:
Yet He Will Show Compassion!
In the midst of Jeremiah’s grief over the fall of his nation, he came back to this in chapter 3:
21 This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “ The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD.
32 Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
His compassions fail not. Great is His faithfulness. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion!
Is there an area of grief or heartache in your life? If so, spend some time meditating on this passage.
Psalm 119.145-152:
As Near as His Word
You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are truth (v. 152).
We have all had those times when God seemed far away. Yet, He is as near as His Word because He and His Word are one. If He seems far away to you, sit down and spend time reading your Bible. Read it thoughtfully and prayerfully. Let Him speak to your heart in the pages of Scripture.
Proverbs 28.11:
Knowledge, Understanding & Discernment
The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the poor who has understanding searches him out.
Matthew Henry had this to say about verse 11:
Those that are rich are apt to think themselves wise, because, whatever else they are ignorant of, they know how to get and save; and those that are purse-proud expect that all they say should be regarded as an oracle and a law, and that none should dare to contradict them, but every sheaf bow to theirs; this humour is fed by flatterers, who, because (like Jezebel’s prophets) they are fed at their table, cry up their wisdom of Solomon. Those that are poor often prove themselves wiser than they: A poor man, who has taken pains to get wisdom, having no other way (as the rich man has) to get a reputation, searches him out, and makes it to appear that he is not such a scholar, nor such a politician, as he is taken to be. See how variously God dispenses his gifts; to some he gives wealth, to others wisdom, and it is easy to say which of these is the better gift, which we should covet more earnestly.
A rich man will find no shortage of people willing to tell him what he wants to hear, but a poor man who seeks knowledge and understanding will have the discernment to see through him.
I believe this is true not only with those who are rich financially but with those who are rich with power and authority. There are those who use favor and intimidation with the same results.
Coming Up:
In the next few days, we’ll talk about truth, politics, God’s standard, why God doesn’t immediately deal with some things, and discuss the question, “Does Salvation + Time + Knowledge = Spiritual Maturity?”
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them. You might also like to check out our YouTube channel.
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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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