Monday | 06 July 2026
Spiritual discernment is necessary to appraise the nature of a person’s offence. For example, a person’s offended response may simply be attributable to their personality or temperament. They may even be having a bad day! In other cases, the accusations levelled against us may be energised by a familiar spirit or the oppression of an evil spirit that has taken hold of a person. We do not need to answer or appease such expressions. We must maintain our own sanctified expression as we receive with meekness the word that enables us to be built on Christ.
A brother who has ‘ought against us’ is offended by something that we may have said or done. Mat 5:23-24. This may be a perceived or a real offence. However, if the Spirit brings the offence to our attention, we must seek reconciliation in a spirit of fellowship. This is the ministry of oil that marks our connection to the headship of Christ.
Of course, Jesus was not advocating for a gainsaying conversation that is informed by the law of our mind. This approach to relational recovery in the presbytery, in the church, or in our households, is an expression of the other law and only produces the emotions of sin.
What is our example? We note that Jesus sought reconciliation with Judas in a spirit of fellowship. Judas was offended by the words of Christ, and was offended when Jesus was anointed for His burial by Mary and by the wife of Simon the leper. Yet, Jesus washed Judas’ feet and implored him to join Him in the fellowship of prayer in Gethsemane. Joh 13:2-5,27.
If we fail to initiate reconciliation when we know that our brother is offended, we sin, even if, according to the Law, we are blameless. Likewise, if the aggrieved brother remains offended, they sin. The problem for either person is their refusal to reconcile with their brother, and walk together in the light of the word, where the blood of Christ is active to cleanse and to heal. 1Jn 1:7. For this reason, their sin remains.
Further Study:
Psalm 133
References:
Mat 5:23-24
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Joh 13:2-5
And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Joh 13:27
Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’
1Jn 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.