Bible Reading: Matthew 5:21-26
Key Verse: Verse 23 – “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;”
Key Words: rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee
I, on occasion, have heard
well-meaning preachers say, “If my brother doesn’t ask for forgiveness, I’m not
under obligation to forgive him.” How
sad!! As believers, we are under
obligation to forgive. The burden is
always on us as believers. If we know
our brother has ought against us, then we take the initiative to make things
right. If not, we find ourselves in the
bondage of anger and bitterness.
Recently we put up a hummingbird
feeder with four feeding stations.
Almost immediately it became popular with the hummingbirds that live in
our area. Two, three, or even four birds
would feed at one time. We refilled the
feeder at least once a day. Suddenly the
usage decreased to almost nothing. The
feeder needed filling only about once a week.
The reason for the decreased
usage soon became apparent. A male bird
had taken over the feeder as his property.
He is now the only hummingbird who uses our feeder. He feeds and then sits in a nearby tree,
rising to attack any bird that approaches his feeder. Guard duty occupies his every waking
hour. He is an effective guard. The only time another bird gets to use the
feeder is when the self-appointed owner is momentarily gone to chase away an
intruder.
We soon realized that the
hummingbird was teaching us a valuable lesson.
By choosing to assume ownership of the feeder, he is forfeiting his
freedom. He is no longer free to come
and go as he wished. He is tied to the
work of guarding his feeder. He is
possessed by his possession. His freedom
of action is as circumscribed as if he were in a cage. He is caged by a situation he has created.
What to do:
✞Remember
your brother, then go and make it right.
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