Second post for today.

This is something profound to me. The thought actually gives me chills and makes me fell ill. Read this scripture...


Matthew 5:23-25 (New International Version)
23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.



At first glance, I said, "duh, we are supposed to forgive." Take a moment to think about what it says. We cannot offer God a Holy gift if our hearts are not holy. If we hold something against our brother or even if he holds something against us we are not to offer our gift to the Lord unless we stop and go fix the problem. We can't tell God how much we love Him, need Him, adore Him, want Him, believe in Him, trust Him, LOVE HIM unless we are first reconciled with our brother-- I'll go so far as to say He is not talking about just our blood brother here. He is also talking about our enemy ("adversary"). It doesn't matter how horrible someone has been to us, we cannot approach God at the altar of prayer unless we resolve the situation-- forgive and or apologize and ask for forgiveness. Stop and think about this, really absorb it. We cannot praise God, pray to God, worship God, say His name if our hearts are not holy. In the Old Testament there were rituals and sacrifices in order to make one’s heart holy-- and only the priest at that-- before God's people could approach Him. If they were not holy they were struck DEAD! Now, He still requires a holy heart for us to approach Him in His supreme Holiness. We are to lay down our gifts and go clean our hearts before we give Him our gift. Maybe our gift is a song in church, maybe it is an act of kindness in His name, maybe it is a tithe or offering, maybe it is loaning someone or giving someone something dear to you, maybe it is praying for someone or yourself, maybe it is... any act of worship, love... He will not accept it if it is not holy. He can't. He will not be tainted by dirty gifts. He gives us an easy way to prepare our hearts. All we have to do is forgive. It doesn't hurt! It requires no blood or gore. It does not cost a penny. It hurts no one or nothing! Think about it. Have you recently prayed (the Bible says to pray without ceasing) in Jesus name with an un-holy heart? I am thinking about it and like I said, the thought of this makes me really feel sick. I offer God worship all the time; I do pray without ceasing; I sing with joy in my heart... My heart-- is it holy?