Reconciliation By Taking Responsibility

MANY PEOPLE think that ‘doormats’, i.e. peacemakers, are weak and submissive, but I really wonder what God will say on Judgment Day. Didn’t Jesus say, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”? (Matthew 5:9)

We don’t like showing weakness and we don’t like bearing weakness either, but if we would be genuinely Christian – children of God – then meekness (Matthew 5:5) is something we have to develop in. Would we want Jesus to say to us on the Day of Judgment, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.” (see Matthew 7:21-23)

Some ‘Christians’ are in for a rude awakening, I think – those, in present sight, that cannot take responsibility for their own actions, or for the portions of fault and blame that are due them. There lack of humility marks them as immature.

When there is fault and blame on both sides, what sets the Christian apart is their desire to repent of what they could have done better. Their focus isn’t on what the other person did wrong. No, that’s where they ply grace, allowing the other person to find their portion of fault and blame themselves.

The best test of the true Bible-believing Christian, I believe, is their preparedness toward, willingness to engage in, and response of others’, repentance.

Repentance may be the most important improper noun in the Bible.

The Power of Admitting “I Was Wrong”

Honesty, as an attitude of courage, coupled with the courage to admit ‘”I was wrong” through repenting, is one characteristic set of the mature person.

What an irony that is! A mature person admitting they were wrong. But, when we have grown through submitting for the sake of it – to simply keep the peace because we were scared of the consequences – then we have applied courage. And courage, which empowers honesty and fuels the humility of repentance, never lets us down.

Of course, there are times when it’s just much wiser to buckle – i.e. when relating with the stubborn fool who must always be right (see Proverbs 26:4-5). These times we are forgiven for taking a shorter route, or bypassing that way altogether. It is most sensible to enter cautiously, for dealing with proverbial fools is a minefield. (Studying the fool in Proverbs is a study in wisdom, for the wise must be able to handle a fool.)

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How are we to resolve this conflict?

Perhaps it’s gone on too long,

Sometimes reconciliation’s easy,

Especially when we say, “I was wrong.”

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.