Thought for Wednesday 16 February

Matthew 5:23 (NIV)

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Each week we bring our offering to church as a gift to God – it’s an important part of our worship. We read in many places in the Bible the importance of presenting an offering to God, but the truth is that God is more interested in what's in our heart than he is in what's in our hand.

So, before we give our next offering, perhaps we should ask ourselves a few questions. Have I been angry with someone this week? Have I had any arguments lately? Have I called someone a bad name? Have I said something about someone that wasn't true? If so, we should ask God to forgive us and we should go to the person we have hurt and ask them to forgive us. When we have done that, God will be pleased with our offering.

As a lot of you already know, there are those from whom I should ask forgiveness, please form an orderly queue. Seriously, it is so easy to get carried away and say things without thinking about how something said jokingly can wound when said at the wrong time. They don’t even have to be said in anger, just with a lack of thought, but words can be just as painful as any physical hurt. In fact, physical hurt heals but the memory of harsh words lasts forever.

Prayer

"Forgive" is an old hymn written by Corinne Williams. The first verse of this hymn is a good prayer for us today.

Forgive the things we've said in haste, 0 Lord, today,
Ere evening shadows fold again the light away;
O take away the sting and hurt from hearts, we pray;
And heal the wounded spirits, Lord, in Thine own way!

Heavenly Father, we would not think of committing murder, but we sometimes say things in anger that hurt other people. Help us to guard against hateful and hurtful words and forgive us as we ask those we have hurt to forgive us as well. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.