By Odon Bulamba (2 May 2003)
There was a man once who had a servant in his house and one day the servant made a mistake and the man had him arrested. The servant stayed in the prison for many years. The longer he stayed in prison the better the officers would know him and one day he was given the responsibility of the prison. One day his previous master was arrested also and was put in the same cell as him. The servant said, “Here I am – the boss. I control all the prisoners in the jail. You were my boss yesterday but today I am your boss. Tomorrow you will wax my shoes and the day after tomorrow you will iron my clothes.”
It was like revenge and many Christians live like this. They try to promote revenge rather than promoting reconciliation. They don’t have time to think about the glory of the forgiveness of God but they always think about what has happened to them in their past. They are ready to hate others and become murderers.
When Esau and Jacob became separated, Jacob left to live somewhere else but one day he returned and he saw his brother from far away coming towards him with 400 men. Jacob was afraid so he put his servant in the front line with his children. He put Leah with her children, put Rachel and Joseph in front of him and then he was at the back. And after that God touched him – “Why do you sacrifice the life of all these people when it’s you who has the problem with your brother?”
He found himself guilty and put himself out in front. He went forward and before meeting his brother, he bowed down seven times. And when his brother saw him he jumped. He ran and Jacob thought to himself, “Today I’m dead. This is the end for me.” And the Bible says that his brother embraced him and maybe people around thought he wanted to strangle him. But he was smiling and Esau said, “I’m really happy to see you.” Jacob said “Because you are here, take this I have prepared this as a present.” But Esau said, “No, I don’t need your presents. I’ve got many goods that God gave me.” But Jacob insisted.
I (Odon) meditated on this one day and Jacob didn’t give the presents because he wanted to, but because he was afraid. Finally his brother accepted his gifts and they left. And you know what Jacob said? He said, “I cannot go your speed because I have children and animals. So let me walk at their speed. And as for you, we will meet together some time.” But his brother said, “I cannot leave you alone. It’s better for me to give you some servants to go with you.” And Jacob said “No, go with your servants, I will come.” And Jacob didn’t go to meet with his brother as promised; he took another direction and lived somewhere else.
From time to time when we have problems with family and friends, when these brothers come back to us because we are ashamed or afraid we flatter them with words. We flatter them with our gifts and when they say, “Let’s live together in the Lord”, you say, “I’m a little bit busy, I cannot walk your speed so go and I’ll follow you.” “I’m Sylvie’s friend but we live at a certain distance. I’m Michelle’s friend but we just met at church on Sundays.” So is there any reconciliation between you or not?
And if there is no reconciliation how are you going to accomplish what is written in 2 Corinthians because that’s the message we have been given. Take the message of reconciliation everywhere in the world. We who are saved, we are told to take the gospel everywhere. This is easy – everybody can preach, everybody can talk about the gospel. But for the Christian who is mature, he is asked to take the message of reconciliation.
How many people do you know who have problems with others? And how many times have you tried to reconcile them? Or do you say this is not my problem. What do you do exactly? When Christians have problems with their God, do you reconcile them? When Christians have problems reading the Bible or praying; do you reconcile them? Jesus has come to reconcile us with God. He has given us a message first and he accepted to bear our burdens. Do you also accept to bear the burdens of others? So when I meet Lebon who doesn’t read the Bible, do I encourage him to read it? Do I also accept to bear his burdens so that he might be reconciled to God? When I find someone who doesn’t know how to pray, do I kneel myself to pray for him and bear his burdens?
One day David was in the kingdom of the Philistines and he was fleeing Saul. He became friends of a certain King, Achia. And the Philistines had to go to war and David too with his 600 men started marching in front of the king to go to war. And all the Philistines said that David would not go to war with them. They didn’t want to see him there. So they asked their king to tell David to go back to where he came from. So the king said to David, “I loved you, I know you and I know your life. I also know that since being with you, you have never made a mistake but people around here don’t love you. So you have to go back.”
David took his soldiers and went back. He arrived in the city and found the city looted and all the children, women and wives had been taken away. His 600 men who were with David turned their faces against David to the point where they wanted to stone him because he had sold the life of their families. And David cried. Everybody cried. But out of God’s grace, David said, “Bring the Lord’s documents and I will see them.” And he asked God, “What can I do? May I follow the looters or not?” God asked him to go.
On their way, something happened. They met an Ethiopian who was very hungry. He had spent three days and three nights without eating and this man was brought to David. David asked this man who he was. But before asking him, David gave him something to eat and drink. The man said, “I was asked to attack the kingdom of Judea and destroy and take everything but because I fell sick on the way, I was left.” David said, “Through the one who is sick and hungry, I can find information.” And this man gave David all the information he needed to find his own people. The condition was for David not to kill him.
David arrived at the place and found all the families and goods. But when they went, 200 soldiers where tired and they stopped on the way and when David came back with the victory and belongings, David said, “200 men are there, we must share the goods.” And others were not happy and didn’t want to share the goods because they had stayed behind and didn’t participate. But David said, “We have to share with them because they belong to us.”
Reconciliation must be shared with everyone. Share your reconciliation with the poor, get reconciled with the rich, with those who are tired and be reconciled with those who are hungry. Many people have the courage to ask for forgiveness from their boss for example, but they don’t have the courage to be reconciled with simple people.
So with God, without reconciliation nothing will work. If you have never practised reconciliation in your Christian life, it’s now the time to practise it. It’s true that forgiveness is there, but try to get reconciled with everybody. It’s true that there are disputes between people but try to get reconciled with their families. It’s true that there are many unbelievers in this world but try to get them reconciled with their God.
This is a mission that is given to us. It is the simplest thing of everything. It’s not politics or the reconciliation made by ministers or ambassadors where you have to write reports and study all the factors. It’s just a question to go and to talk and that’s it. It’s about being ready to forgive and forget.
I always remember what Michelle who works for Child Youth and Family used to tell me; in her work they talk about closing the files. It means that when there has been a situation that has lasted a few days, people do everything they can to find a solution and the lasting solution will be to close the file. For example a child has been taken away so the child will be given back and the problem will be over. For example, if something is not okay in a family, people will be reconciled together and everything will work out. How many files have you closed in your life? How many files have you closed in the life of your friends and family?
So to be a good counsellor; the one who reconciles others, you must first get reconciled with God and be reconciled with those around you and through that you will help others to get reconciled. Keep taking the gospel around but add a little bit of reconciliation when you bring the gospel.
Showing posts with label Reconciliation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reconciliation. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Reconciliation (Part III)
By Odon Bulamba (2 May 2003)
Let us read the book of 2 Corinthians 5:19-21
God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ not counting men’s sins against them and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Amen.
Jesus Christ didn’t sin but He bore our sins and He didn’t sulk. He didn’t even say a word. He said, “I am going to die for these people.” And how many times do you accept the tasks of heaven so that reconciliation might happen? How many times do you accept to be called something false so that reconciliation might happen? How many times do you accept to be arrested so that reconciliation might happen?
When Jesus was arrested, all His clothes were taken off Him – He was completely naked. Could we accept our reputation to become naked in front of everybody so that reconciliation might happen? If the answer is yes, praise God. And if it is not that way, what will you do?
To make reconciliation happen, you must make up your mind. Don’t wait for the other person to come to you, but you have to go forward to that person. When you talk to the other person, there are two possibilities – you might be accepted or rejected. But as Christians you are called to go and once you arrive there, you have to talk about reconciliation. Don’t talk about the problem that happened. Don’t remember what is already buried but tell this person that you will live the same friendship that you used to live before. And if it’s possible, we will try to make this friendship to be pure love. This doesn’t mean that if I was a drunk yesterday, I will go back to my friends and drink together. You will go back but say you would like to talk to them about God. God has transformed me and given me life so take this opportunity to learn who God is.
What is reconciliation? Reconciliation is a very small thing in the life of a human being. There was love or friendship and then this friendship became broken but after that, one goes towards the other to put people together and love comes back. This is reconciliation. Reconciliation does not mean forgiveness. It does not mean humility. But reconciliation means to accept everything to be put on you. It means all the mistakes that were made will be put on you so that two parties can be put together again and carry on in good way.
Remember the Hutu story...the children from the Hutu family grew up and the oldest who was asked to be killed, always remembered that. One day he went into the army of Rwanda and his aim was to become a solider. Not to defend the interests of the Tsuti but to revenge himself. He said that because he still lived today, it was only by God’s grace, because my neighbours asked my mum to kill me. So my neighbours were my first enemies so I am going to revenge myself against my neighbours.
One day this man took his weapon, went to the neighbour’s house and knocked on the door and he found the man and all his family present. He took out his weapon and said, “Do you remember the blood that my mother lost? Remember the hand of my mum? Remember the machete of which you said she will have to cut her son’s throat with? And especially you man, remember that you said every thing has its time. As you were a Christian before and then you weren’t, well the same goes for me. I was a Christian yesterday, but today I am not.”
This young man lined up the whole family and said, “You will die one after another. So who will be the first?” And the father looked around and didn’t know what to say. And his wife said, “Do you remember what I said? When his mum came and said let’s get reconciled, you rejected her and now we are going to pay the price with our lives.” And the boy said, “Who will be the first?” And the mum said, “Here I am.” So the boy took the gun and gave it to the husband and he asked the husband to kill his wife.
The husband realised he had a weapon in his hand and had been asked to kill his wife and he said, “You are stupid. I am going to start with you.” He turned himself against the boy and found that there was no cartridge in it. The man was disappointed and the boy said, “Here it is. You have the spirit of murder. So you keep being the same. When will you change your life? When we were children you would gather us to preach the gospel of God but up to today you don’t even have the fear of killing so because of that I will kill you”.
And this man knelt down and asked for forgiveness. He said “Forgive me my son, do not kill me. What I did was not correct. It was the pride of my race. It was also to promote the success of my tribe. But I ask for forgiveness.” And this boy forgave this family. The boy went home and called his mum and he said to her “Let’s go and get reconciled with other families.” Once they arrived everybody started crying. They didn’t cry because they were ashamed but because they regretted all their mistakes. And before eating the man said “I had asked my wife to prepare some food but in this food is poison so don’t eat. As for us Tustis we kill easily. If we miss you with a knife we might use poison. So I thought one day you would revenge yourself so I put poison in your food.” And the boy said, “You keep being a murderer.” And he said “Forgive me again for the last time.”
So what can we learn from all this? Someone who has killed your parents or made your life difficult and you find a perfect situation to punish him, what are you going to do? If for example someone has made your life miserable and you find him in front of you and you are a powerful person, will you call on reconciliation or will revenge take place?
Let us read the book of 2 Corinthians 5:19-21
God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ not counting men’s sins against them and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Amen.
Jesus Christ didn’t sin but He bore our sins and He didn’t sulk. He didn’t even say a word. He said, “I am going to die for these people.” And how many times do you accept the tasks of heaven so that reconciliation might happen? How many times do you accept to be called something false so that reconciliation might happen? How many times do you accept to be arrested so that reconciliation might happen?
When Jesus was arrested, all His clothes were taken off Him – He was completely naked. Could we accept our reputation to become naked in front of everybody so that reconciliation might happen? If the answer is yes, praise God. And if it is not that way, what will you do?
To make reconciliation happen, you must make up your mind. Don’t wait for the other person to come to you, but you have to go forward to that person. When you talk to the other person, there are two possibilities – you might be accepted or rejected. But as Christians you are called to go and once you arrive there, you have to talk about reconciliation. Don’t talk about the problem that happened. Don’t remember what is already buried but tell this person that you will live the same friendship that you used to live before. And if it’s possible, we will try to make this friendship to be pure love. This doesn’t mean that if I was a drunk yesterday, I will go back to my friends and drink together. You will go back but say you would like to talk to them about God. God has transformed me and given me life so take this opportunity to learn who God is.
What is reconciliation? Reconciliation is a very small thing in the life of a human being. There was love or friendship and then this friendship became broken but after that, one goes towards the other to put people together and love comes back. This is reconciliation. Reconciliation does not mean forgiveness. It does not mean humility. But reconciliation means to accept everything to be put on you. It means all the mistakes that were made will be put on you so that two parties can be put together again and carry on in good way.
Remember the Hutu story...the children from the Hutu family grew up and the oldest who was asked to be killed, always remembered that. One day he went into the army of Rwanda and his aim was to become a solider. Not to defend the interests of the Tsuti but to revenge himself. He said that because he still lived today, it was only by God’s grace, because my neighbours asked my mum to kill me. So my neighbours were my first enemies so I am going to revenge myself against my neighbours.
One day this man took his weapon, went to the neighbour’s house and knocked on the door and he found the man and all his family present. He took out his weapon and said, “Do you remember the blood that my mother lost? Remember the hand of my mum? Remember the machete of which you said she will have to cut her son’s throat with? And especially you man, remember that you said every thing has its time. As you were a Christian before and then you weren’t, well the same goes for me. I was a Christian yesterday, but today I am not.”
This young man lined up the whole family and said, “You will die one after another. So who will be the first?” And the father looked around and didn’t know what to say. And his wife said, “Do you remember what I said? When his mum came and said let’s get reconciled, you rejected her and now we are going to pay the price with our lives.” And the boy said, “Who will be the first?” And the mum said, “Here I am.” So the boy took the gun and gave it to the husband and he asked the husband to kill his wife.
The husband realised he had a weapon in his hand and had been asked to kill his wife and he said, “You are stupid. I am going to start with you.” He turned himself against the boy and found that there was no cartridge in it. The man was disappointed and the boy said, “Here it is. You have the spirit of murder. So you keep being the same. When will you change your life? When we were children you would gather us to preach the gospel of God but up to today you don’t even have the fear of killing so because of that I will kill you”.
And this man knelt down and asked for forgiveness. He said “Forgive me my son, do not kill me. What I did was not correct. It was the pride of my race. It was also to promote the success of my tribe. But I ask for forgiveness.” And this boy forgave this family. The boy went home and called his mum and he said to her “Let’s go and get reconciled with other families.” Once they arrived everybody started crying. They didn’t cry because they were ashamed but because they regretted all their mistakes. And before eating the man said “I had asked my wife to prepare some food but in this food is poison so don’t eat. As for us Tustis we kill easily. If we miss you with a knife we might use poison. So I thought one day you would revenge yourself so I put poison in your food.” And the boy said, “You keep being a murderer.” And he said “Forgive me again for the last time.”
So what can we learn from all this? Someone who has killed your parents or made your life difficult and you find a perfect situation to punish him, what are you going to do? If for example someone has made your life miserable and you find him in front of you and you are a powerful person, will you call on reconciliation or will revenge take place?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Reconciliation (Part II)
By Odon Bulamba (2 May 2003)
Let’s consider God’s attitude towards us.
When God created Adam, He found Adam good and gave him many responsibilities. God knew that one day Adam would fall into sin. He told Adam, “Be careful, don’t eat the fruit of this tree.” But one day Adam ate from this tree.
As we know, God used to visit Adam every evening and God knew that Adam had done something wrong and He said, “I’m going to see him. Although he has pierced my heart with a knife, I will go and see him. Although he hasn’t obeyed my orders – Me being his God, I am going to go and see him.” The Bible says that God left Heaven to visit Adam in the garden. And that’s the first time we can hear God saying, “Adam, Adam, where are you?” Adam hid himself. Other days they may have been able to meet without being called, but because of his wrongdoing Adam hid somewhere. And God raised His voice and said, “Adam, Adam, where are you?”
God, to whom wrong was done, still came to find Adam and He found him naked somewhere. He said, “Ah, my friend is naked. The one who is similar to me is naked. So first of all, I must cover his nakedness.” The Bible says that God made Adam wear the skin of an animal and this covered his nakedness. God didn’t say to Adam, “From now on, our friendship is over.” God didn’t say, “Because of what you have done, I’m not going to come and see you anymore.” But He asked only one question, “Who told you that you were naked?”
Instead of Adam saying that he discovered it himself, he said, “That’s the wife you gave me.” He is asked why he is naked and responds by saying that it was the wife God gave him. And the wife said, “But it was the snake that tricked me.” And if the serpent could blame someone, he also would say that person tricked him.
So let us consider God’s love. We are in the likeness of God and are called Christians, meaning we walk like Christ and are Christs’ imitators. Therefore, we are also called to leave the Heavens to come on earth and meet people like Adam.
From time to time we have friends and our friends fall into situations that divide us. We were friends but following circumstances our friendship has been broken. From my side, I cannot go and kneel down before someone like Zoe and be reconciled to her because the love I had for Zoe has been turned into hatred and Zoe will also say that she can’t go and see Odon because he did something wrong. She will say, “If he needs me he can come and visit me, but I cannot go and see him.” If God would say that to Adam, how would Adam be able to see God. God knew that Adam would live in the garden but the Bible doesn’t say if Adam knew where God lived. They would only meet in the garden. If God had said, “Adam has made a mistake so I won’t go and be reconciled to him”, how would Adam have been able to see God?
As Christians we have to go and see other people who have done wrong against us. Although they have killed our parents and done wrong things, if they were our friends in the past, we have to act like God and go and reconcile with them. My friend, if there has been a problem in the past between you and me, forgive me and let’s be reconciled.
God himself taught us something – we cannot live without peace. He has even asked us to live in peace with everyone and how could you live in peace with everybody if you are not reconciled with everybody? I would say that reconciliation is the root of the major principle that makes us to live in peace with everyone. Because if you don’t become reconciled with everyone; you will never have peace. If you say that you are not able to lower yourself to that stage, you must accept that you will live without peace in your life.
Jesus himself accepted to be humiliated to a level the world itself cannot accept. God accepted to be humiliated in everything we do. How many times as Christians do we make mistakes and sin against God and we humiliate God’s name? And people around us observing our mistakes will not remember we are human beings but will say it was a Christian who did it. “Ah, you know there is a Christian who did this somewhere!” The name of the person won’t be mentioned, but the name of the whole church of Christ will be blamed. But God keeps tolerating and comes by our side to talk to us.
Let’s consider God’s attitude towards us.
When God created Adam, He found Adam good and gave him many responsibilities. God knew that one day Adam would fall into sin. He told Adam, “Be careful, don’t eat the fruit of this tree.” But one day Adam ate from this tree.
As we know, God used to visit Adam every evening and God knew that Adam had done something wrong and He said, “I’m going to see him. Although he has pierced my heart with a knife, I will go and see him. Although he hasn’t obeyed my orders – Me being his God, I am going to go and see him.” The Bible says that God left Heaven to visit Adam in the garden. And that’s the first time we can hear God saying, “Adam, Adam, where are you?” Adam hid himself. Other days they may have been able to meet without being called, but because of his wrongdoing Adam hid somewhere. And God raised His voice and said, “Adam, Adam, where are you?”
God, to whom wrong was done, still came to find Adam and He found him naked somewhere. He said, “Ah, my friend is naked. The one who is similar to me is naked. So first of all, I must cover his nakedness.” The Bible says that God made Adam wear the skin of an animal and this covered his nakedness. God didn’t say to Adam, “From now on, our friendship is over.” God didn’t say, “Because of what you have done, I’m not going to come and see you anymore.” But He asked only one question, “Who told you that you were naked?”
Instead of Adam saying that he discovered it himself, he said, “That’s the wife you gave me.” He is asked why he is naked and responds by saying that it was the wife God gave him. And the wife said, “But it was the snake that tricked me.” And if the serpent could blame someone, he also would say that person tricked him.
So let us consider God’s love. We are in the likeness of God and are called Christians, meaning we walk like Christ and are Christs’ imitators. Therefore, we are also called to leave the Heavens to come on earth and meet people like Adam.
From time to time we have friends and our friends fall into situations that divide us. We were friends but following circumstances our friendship has been broken. From my side, I cannot go and kneel down before someone like Zoe and be reconciled to her because the love I had for Zoe has been turned into hatred and Zoe will also say that she can’t go and see Odon because he did something wrong. She will say, “If he needs me he can come and visit me, but I cannot go and see him.” If God would say that to Adam, how would Adam be able to see God. God knew that Adam would live in the garden but the Bible doesn’t say if Adam knew where God lived. They would only meet in the garden. If God had said, “Adam has made a mistake so I won’t go and be reconciled to him”, how would Adam have been able to see God?
As Christians we have to go and see other people who have done wrong against us. Although they have killed our parents and done wrong things, if they were our friends in the past, we have to act like God and go and reconcile with them. My friend, if there has been a problem in the past between you and me, forgive me and let’s be reconciled.
God himself taught us something – we cannot live without peace. He has even asked us to live in peace with everyone and how could you live in peace with everybody if you are not reconciled with everybody? I would say that reconciliation is the root of the major principle that makes us to live in peace with everyone. Because if you don’t become reconciled with everyone; you will never have peace. If you say that you are not able to lower yourself to that stage, you must accept that you will live without peace in your life.
Jesus himself accepted to be humiliated to a level the world itself cannot accept. God accepted to be humiliated in everything we do. How many times as Christians do we make mistakes and sin against God and we humiliate God’s name? And people around us observing our mistakes will not remember we are human beings but will say it was a Christian who did it. “Ah, you know there is a Christian who did this somewhere!” The name of the person won’t be mentioned, but the name of the whole church of Christ will be blamed. But God keeps tolerating and comes by our side to talk to us.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Reconciliation (Part I)
It’s a joy to see you again tonight and the Bible says, “blessed are those who share their joy with those who are joyful and blessed are those who share their distress with those who are distressed”. Tonight we are going to talk about a small topic and this topic is a branch of the Great Salvation. This small topic is called reconciliation.
There was once a Christian family who were friends with another family from a different tribe. The Christian family I speak about was a Tutsi family (we can remember the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994). And the other family was a Hutu family. When the Tutsi came into power they were chasing the Hutu to exterminate them and their aim was to annihilate them completely on their territory.
So this Hutu family that had Christian friends decided to flee their house and go into hiding in the house of the others knowing well that this was a Christian family and that their lives would be saved there. Once arriving at this house they were hidden in a bedroom. The Christian husband telephoned the Tutsi soldiers. He first put his Christian faith aside, he put his conscience to sleep and put his Bible a side. He said, “I will act as a Tutsi. I don’t need to think that I am a Christian or not. But I am going to act like a Tutsi. In 1952, the Hutu’s took and killed our ancestors. It’s time now to revenge ourselves.”
He asked the Tutsi soldiers to come and they came to the house. This family was asked to come out of the bedroom and the soldiers took a machete and it was given to the wife and she was asked to cut the throat of her first son and she said, “No, I can’t.” She was told that she had to cut the throat of her son. She said no again and so they took the machete and cut off one of her hands. They gave her back the machete and asked her to kill her son and the mum could see how the blood was pouring out of her hand. She was crying with pain and bitterness but she was still forced to cut the throat of her son. Because she was slow, they also cut her foot off and the husband and other children were watching this.
Finally, because the mum had lost a lot of blood she fainted. So they took the husband and said “It’s time now – you must kill your children.” And the husband couldn’t watch his children. He turned his face against his neighbour – he said “You – I know you as a Christian. I really trusted you as a brother in Christ but what are you doing? Is this what you preached to us from the gospel?” This man replied, “Yesterday I was a Christian but today I am a Tutsi. Remember what the bible says ‘Everything has its time’. That was the time to pray; now is the time to kill.”
The man took the machete and instead of killing his own children, he cut his own throat and he fell down dead. His children started crying, “How are we going to carry on with life? How are we going to live without a father or a mother? It would be better for us to die also.” And the Tutsi who were there were not bothered. They just said “You are paying the price for what your ancestors did.”
Thank God that after a certain time, this woman who had a hand and foot cut off, her body healed and once she was healed, the war was over and she went to visit this Christian family who had sacrificed them. She knocked on the door and once she would have come with two feet, now she comes with crutches. Before she had a hand that could move, her hand couldn’t be used anymore because it had been destroyed. So this woman came toward the Christian family and this family was surprised – she wasn’t dead! She said, “No, I didn’t die, I am still alive. But I am coming to you to talk to you. Although I have lost my hand and foot, I haven’t lost the love I have for you. I haven’t lost the kingdom of heaven. You cut my hand and my foot but you didn’t cut my life and one day you also will die as I will die so my presence here is not to accuse you but I am here to become reconciled with you. I know that you made yourself an enemy towards us but as for me I have kept loving you. I need reconciliation”.
So imagine what could be the attitude of the Tusti family? What would be your reaction if you were this family? And it was not easy for this Tusti family but they had to find a solution because this man was ashamed and his conscience started to remind him of all that happened, he stood up and kicked the lady. He said, “Get out of here. You are troubling me.” He was very nasty.
Imagine someone who comes for reconciliation after suffering wrongdoing and then being cast out again. And for us Christians we must learn something about reconciliation. Many situations happen in our lives where we apply hatred and when we practise hatred we reach the point of being murderers. The Bible says that whomever practises hatred is exactly the same as those who murder.
If you say, for example, “I hate this person”, that’s enough for God to say you are a murderer. If you say for example, “I hate a certain situation”, for God it’s the same. In 1 John 3:15 the Bible says whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that a murderer does not have eternal life in him. This is the first thing that prevents us from being reconciled to others. When we have hatred it’s not easy to go and see that person. When we have hatred it’s not easy to have a positive attitude. And everything we do will work together with hatred.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
10 Branches of the Great Salvation - Reconciliation
By Odon Bulamba (summary only)
I John 3:15
II Corinthians 5:19-21
Reconciliation is when a friendship is broken and one of the parties goes to the other and love comes back. Reconciliation means to accept everything to be put on you, all the mistakes will be on you so that two parts can be put together again and carry on in the right way.
If someone has made your life miserable and you see that person again, will you call on revenge or reconciliation?
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
II Corinthians 5:19-21
Reconciliation is when a friendship is broken and one of the parties goes to the other and love comes back. Reconciliation means to accept everything to be put on you, all the mistakes will be on you so that two parts can be put together again and carry on in the right way.
If someone has made your life miserable and you see that person again, will you call on revenge or reconciliation?
For the full message please email: littlebethlehem@windowslive.com
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