reconciliation – The Fool Who Would Be Holy

I must handle anger better than the most religious people!

Ian Johnson May 13, 2025 1 Comment

I must live more righteously than the most religious people, the people who make a show of keeping all of the rules in their own strength. Jesus’ first example of this is that I must handle my anger better than the most religious people do, and better than the traditional interpretations of the Law of Moses prescribed. I am responsible not only for letting the Spirit control my anger, but for doing what I can, led by the Spirit, to avoid giving a brother or sister an occasion to develop a grudge against me. If I love my brother or sister, I will try to reconcile with them promptly when I know I have aroused their anger.

choosing not to forgive, God's purpose for us, Harboring anger and grudges, Restoration of our Relationships, To live in unity

anger, Holy Spirit, kingdom, Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of the heavens, living by the Holy Spirit, living in the Spirit, murder, offense, reconcile, reconciliation, righteousness, Scribes and Pharisees

Not Abolishing the Law But Fulfilling It

Ian Johnson May 1, 2025 1 Comment

Not the smallest piece of the Law has ever been abolished. But its summary, and its fulfillment, is its command to love my neighbor as myself. If I love myself as I should, and love others in the same way, I will fulfill the Law. But I must come to Jesus to be taught the way of love and to be given the power to love as he does. Then he will fulfill the whole Law through me, in the love he shows others through my life.

God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, Love each other, Must Trust God to Enter, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, The Kingdom of the Heavens, To be in his image, To live in unity

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I Can’t Control the Orbit of Saturn

Ian Johnson April 27, 2025 3 Comments

This is the report of a prayer time earlier this week in which the Holy Spirit interrogated me about how a passage in Colossians 1 that I was praying through applied to my life, as enlarged by some later meditation. God is able to take care of even of the people I worry about and other believers I’ve hurt, Reconciliation comes only from Him. Enough people have watched me tear myself apart this year with worry and self-condemnation that I knew I should make it public to reassure them that I’m still listening to God. It may also be helpful to other chronic codependent worriers who hear it.

Changed treatment of each other, choosing not to forgive, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's sovereignty, Love each other, patience, Reconciliation, Repentance, Repentance in community, Restoration of our Relationships, To live in unity, Victory, What is sin?

Christ, Christology, Colossians 1, Creator, cross, darkness, Death, doctrine, God's wisdom, God's sovereignty, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom, model prayer, my wisdom, prayer, qualified, reconcile, reconciliation, rescue, Trusting God, worry, worrying

Failure to reconcile an offense “quickly” — debtor’s prison awaits!

Ian Johnson April 24, 2025 1 Comment

When I have offended another believer, I must seek reconciliation quickly, before they have had time to form a final judgment against me and form a grudge. I must not procrastinate. Once a grudge forms, I will be imprisoned outside of their lives, unable to give or receive the things God wants to give us through each other, unless and until God intervenes to change their heart toward me.

choosing not to forgive, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Love each other, Restoration of our Relationships, What is sin?

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The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 2, The “Then”

Ian Johnson March 1, 2025 1 Comment

Link: The Command to Go and Be Reconciled–Part 2, the “Then,” read as a YouTube video. As I said in Part 1, Jesus’ command to go and be reconciled is stated in Matthew 5:23-24, which is a single conditional sentence even though it is divided into two verses in modern Bibles: [Reference Link: Matthew 5:23-24 (WEB)], The part of this…
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Forgive as we forgive, Reconciliation, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships

Body of Christ, Church, God as an idol, importance of reconciliation, Jesus, offense, priority of reconciliation, reconcile, reconciled, reconciliation

The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 1, The “If”

Ian Johnson February 28, 2025 0 Comments

In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus gives what appears to be a simple command, though one that is almost never obeyed: before I may offer worship to God before other people, I must see that any offenses which I am aware that others hold against me are being reconciled and have been reconciled at least to some degree. This post covers Jesus’ extreme example of this—the need to interrupt even a Temple sacrifice ritual to go and be reconciled.

choosing not to forgive, Confession of Sin, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Restoration of our Relationships, To live in unity, What is sin?

altar, be reconciled, commandments, gift, grudge, hyperbole, offense, offering, parables, reconcile, reconciliation, remembering an offense, sacrifice, Temple wrship, Worship

Paul also approved of mediation of disputes between Christians by other believers

Ian Johnson January 18, 2025 1 Comment

The theme verse of this installment is Philippians 4:2-3, in which Paul first exhorts Euodia and Syntyche to put their differences aside and agree with each other, then encourages one of the other leaders in Philippi, who he calls his “true partner” to help the two women come into agreement: Philippians 4:2-3 (WEB). This appears to be a request by…
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A God who Speaks, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God Speaks to Us, Injustice and Lawsuits, Love each other, Quarrels, Reconciliation, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, Through the church

Body of Christ, Church, church leaders, Church leadership, harmony, mediate, mediation, mediator, offended believer, Offenses, quarrels, reconcile, reconciliation, settle, settlement, Unity

The Apostle Paul approved of arbitration of disputes between Christians by other believers

Ian Johnson January 15, 2025 1 Comment

The theme of this installment is a question Paul asked the church in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 6:5 (WEB) While the process Jesus described in Matthew 18:15-20 (see previous series of installments) is the ideal procedure, the one most likely to produce reconciliation–which is the goal of all such procedures–the New Testament is not rigidly inflexible in demanding that only this…
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choosing not to forgive, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God was never our enemy, Love each other, Must Trust God to Enter, Quarrels, Reconciliation, Refusing to hear, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Trusting sight over God's words, What is sin?

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Moron Mutual Imprisonment: Binding and Loosing and Church Discipline are Parts of the Same Context, Matthew 18:15-20

Ian Johnson December 24, 2024 3 Comments

Links: This post read as a YouTube video. Full playlist for this series. The point to be made by this post is really quite simple: Jesus’ statement that the things we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and the things we set loose on earth will be loosed in heaven was made in a very specific context, namely,…
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Changed treatment of each other, Discipline or Correction, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God Speaks to Us, Repentance, Repentance in community, Restoration of our Relationships, Through others, Through the church

agreement, binding, Body of Christ, church discipline, equal concern, forgiveness, loosing, offended, offender, offense, Offenses, procedure, reconciliation, repent, repentance, restoration, Unity

My Next Fool’s Errand: Justifying continued prayer for other believers who have told me I must “forget” them because of an offense

Ian Johnson December 23, 2024 0 Comments

Preliminary outline of two series dealing with mutual imprisonment by unforgiveness, God’s goal of reconciliation, and praying for those who don’t want my prayers using constructive, New Testament prayers.

A God who Speaks, Changed treatment of each other, choosing not to forgive, Confession and Repentance, Confession of Sin, Discipline or Correction, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Friends, In prayer, In the Church, Leaving Our First Love, Love each other, Meaning of Unity, patience, Quarrels, Reconciliation, refusal to repent, Repentance, Repentance in community, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, The universal Church and local churches, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity, What is sin?

being dismissed, being dissed, church disipline, debt of sin, debtor, debtors' prison, forgetting people, forgive, forgiveness of sins, forgiving, forgiving each other, offender, offense, Offenses, parables, prayer, prayer for other believers, prayer when asked to forget, reconciled, reconciliation, spiritual debt, the great void, the unforgiving servant, torturers, victim

Tag Archive: reconciliation

I must handle anger better than the most religious people!

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Not Abolishing the Law But Fulfilling It

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I Can’t Control the Orbit of Saturn

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Failure to reconcile an offense “quickly” — debtor’s prison awaits!

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The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 2, The “Then”

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The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 1, The “If”

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Paul also approved of mediation of disputes between Christians by other believers

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The Apostle Paul approved of arbitration of disputes between Christians by other believers

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Moron Mutual Imprisonment: Binding and Loosing and Church Discipline are Parts of the Same Context, Matthew 18:15-20

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My Next Fool’s Errand: Justifying continued prayer for other believers who have told me I must “forget” them because of an offense

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Tag Archive: reconciliation

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