I had the privilege, yes privilege, of saying sorry to someone I had hurt. I had mishandled a situation months earlier and hurt someone in the process. It wasn’t intentional. I had ben caught off guard with something and reacted quickly without seeking the Lord. I hadn’t just hurt her. I had likely hurt her husband whom she had recently married not to mention upset a group in which several of us had become involved. Though I had apologized to her and her husband through him, I had not until then had the opportunity to apologize directly to her.
She was merciful and forgiving, thank God, but that’s not the point of this message. You know, I used to be an enormous finger pointer. I was quick to put the blame on others and slow to take responsibility for my own wrongdoing. In this situation, she and her husband had done something I didn’t feel was right. But instead of blaming them, by God’s grace and because of what He has taught me, I repented of my own sin and sought their forgiveness. What a privilege it is to humble myself and do what is right in God’s eyes and what demonstrates my love for and obedience to the Lord and my love for and care of others.
I wonder, you who are reading this, do you have some people in your life you need to apologize to? Have you been pointing the finger at them instead of looking at your own sin? Do you need to seek God’s forgiveness as well as theirs? Even if you haven’t been blaming them, is it possible you have someone you have done wrong toward? Someone you have hurt intentionally or even not on purpose?
Please, friend, do the right thing. Humble yourself before God, and before the person or people, be sorry for your sin, and seek His forgiveness most importantly and also very importantly theirs. Please, if God is tugging on your heartstrings right now, apologize!
Dear Father, thank you for teaching me to humble myself. Thank you for teaching me about love, mercy, forgiveness, repentance, and apologizing. Thank you for giving me this message to share with others. Please, Lord, teach us to humble ourselves continually, show us by your Holy Spirit when we do wrong, lead us to repentance, have mercy upon us, and help us to go to those we have done wrong toward and say we’re sorry. Thank you, dear Father, for teaching us your ways. And forgive us our pride, the very pride that has caused us to not take responsibility for our wrong in the past. Oh, Lord, help us to be humble, oh Lord, AMEN!
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10 KJV
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 KJV