Try To Make Amends
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Luke 19:8
Zacchaeus had a bad reputation; as a tax collector he got rich by cheating people. And the fact that Jesus spent the night at his house shocked the religious community. We’re not privy to what Jesus told Zacchaeus that night, but it caused him to respond, ‘Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ Jesus answered, ‘Today salvation has come to this house’ (v. 9). There’s an important lesson here about becoming whole. The basis of true emotional healing rests on your willingness to forgive and when possible, make amends to those you’ve hurt. If you owe someone a debt, you must try to pay it. If you’ve wounded them, you must apologize and try to restore the relationship. Jesus said: ‘This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God. Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him’ (Matthew 5:23-25). So, who do you need to make things right with today? Pray for grace – then go take care of it. When you do God will bless you, and you’ll feel better about yourself too!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to make amends for my past where I have hurt people, to the best I can, so that I can move on in Your grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
I struggled so hard to forgive rape, but was not getting there. I prayed to God, explaining that I was not able on my own to get to forgiveness. I asked God to take this forgiveness in His hands for me. So, when the need to forgive was raised, God was in charge of that now, so take it up with Him. God worked on me for literally years about this hurt. One day, God put Mother Theresa ‘s words of why to forgive in front of my eyes. My heart was opened and I realized that in the end, sin isn’t between the sinner and the victim Sin is between sinner and God. It was never about me anyway! Then God empowered me to give heartfelt forgiveness. With God, I forgave what I had thought was unforgivable. Nothing is impossible for God. Not even helping my unforgiving heart to become forgiving. To God be all the glory. Cuz all the power definitely is!