"Leave There Thy Gift"        

Matthew 5:24

 

     It is impossible to worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ while harboring malice toward your brother or sister in Christ. This is the teaching of our Lord. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

     You will find it impossible to pray, you will receive no benefit from the reading of the Scriptures, your soul will not profit from the ministry of the Word, and your outward form of godliness will constantly torment your conscience, because of the hypocrisy and pretense involved in it, as long as you harbor malicious, hard feelings of ill will against one of God's saints. If you do not find that to be the case, I am afraid your religion is all pretense. You are a fake, a fraud, a hypocrite. Members of the family of God get along with each other. They find a way to get along with each other because they love each other.

     It is true, believers do have problems that arise between them. Sinful men and women do offend one another from time to time. But, like husbands and wives determined to overcome all things for the preservation of their family, believers find a way to be reconciled to one another. Men and women who will not be reconciled to one another do not love one another, and people who do not love one another do not know God.

 

 

Don Fortner