Matthew 5:23-24
One of the many kitchen tips submitted last week was the advice to “Clean up the messes you make.” It is a statement about consideration. No one else should have to tend to the mess you have left behind. But it is also a statement about responsibility. You should be the one who puts things back to where they should be.
Following that line of thinking led me to the passage in Matthew. What situation is presented here? What should we do if there is a problem? Then what are we free to do?
Jesus addresses a matter of faith in this example. If you are attending to worship – in this case making an offering at the temple – but you realize there is a problem between yourself and another, you should first reconcile the problem. Then you may attend to your worship.
Why is this a problem? I believe that God wants a pure relationship with Him. We need to go before God with a pure heart and a holy attitude. If we are in conflict with others – if we have made a mess somewhere – we need to clean up our mess. We need to resolve our differences with others, patch things up, make amends, restore our earthly relationships.
Then, when we no longer have any distractions in our lives, no problems, no ill feelings, we can focus completely on God. Our heart and minds can be holy and centered on our worship.
This is a statement that worship is more than simply the actions, the rituals of those who worship. True worship comes from the heart. True worship is more about our attitude and intention and not about the show or material part of church.
If we will have a rich and fulfilling experience in our times of worship, if we will present God with the proper attitude in our times of praise, we must first be certain we have no problems which need to be addressed. And we are the ones responsible for this; no one else.
DAILY CHALLENGE: Is there a mess that requires your attention?
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