I MAKE DIRECT AMENDS TO SUCH PEOPLE, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, EXCEPT WHEN TO DO SO WOULD INJURE THEM OR OTHERS.

I make amends to people in many different ways. If I owe them money, I pay them back. If I have hurt them or insulted them, I apologize and repent. If people have harmed me, I forgive them. I do whatever I must in order to be at peace with my fellow man. By doing so, I begin to have peace in my heart, soul, and conscience, and most importantly, I have peace with my heavenly Father. I find that when I hold resentments against someone or withhold something I owe to someone, I cannot walk in “freedom” because I am then spiritually united to that person and held in bondage to that debt by my conscience.

There may be some people I have harmed that I am unable to make amends to; perhaps they have died or moved away. In these cases I will make amends by helping my fellow man. Since Jesus told me, “If I do good to my neighbor I am doing good to Him,” I am then making amends to God. I may feel that my brother needs to make amends to me before I grant forgiveness, but in God’s plan, I must be the first to obey and be willing to seek reconciliation because this is the way of love. The result of our obedience to His will and Word are manifested in the work that God does in our heart and our will.

Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

This scripture states that I need to keep God’s perspective in all that I do. I can do this because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within me. As I continue to pray, keep my heart open to His influence and guidance, and continue to work with those whom He has sovereignly placed within my life, I can be assured that I will accomplish His will with the least amount of pain and suffering in the lives of others, as well as my own.

In the second verse, we see the need for patience and endurance to run this race. It states that we can get all the way to the altar and there be hindered by the reminder of the Holy Spirit to go to that person and try to make amends. We are to be obedient, leave our gift at the altar, and then not worry about someone else using it or stealing it or anything of the like—God will take care of it. We are just to leave it, then go and try to reconcile. Notice that it doesn’t give a time limit for this process. It just gives us a simple procedure, which is to seek reconciliation.

Luke 20:25 And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

God says that the world has its own agenda and set of standards and that the Kingdom of God and the world do not mix. It shows that God is not a selfish God and gives liberally to all men, even when it means it is death that these men of the world choose. Caesar could have all that was his even though the truth was that it was only on loan from God. Jesus wasn’t threatened by the lie that Caesar believed. He wasn’t threatened by another king or the possibility of another king. Jesus knew His kingdom wasn’t of this world and that He would be given all things in the end. (Philippians 2:5-8; John 18:36; Luke 10:22; Psalms 24:1; 50:10; Acts 17:25)