In Matthew 5:23, Jesus says, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.” That word reconciled means “to bring closure.” We close the books on something.
I once read a story about a man named Jimmy Calkins. Jimmy attended a conference and the facilitator asked every attendee to take out a piece of paper and make a list of anything in their past they regretted or felt ashamed about. Everybody made their list, including Jimmy Calkins, and the facilitator challenged the participants to reconcile whatever was listed on their page.
Jimmy Calkins said, “While making my list, I remembered an incident from high school. I grew up in a small town in Iowa. There was a sheriff in town that none of us kids liked. One night, my two buddies and I decided to play a trick on Sheriff Brown. After drinking a few beers, we found a red can of paint, climbed the tall water tower in the middle of town, and wrote something about Sheriff Brown that I cannot repeat. The next day, the whole town saw our sign written in red paint. Within two hours, Sheriff Brown had the three of us in his office. My two friends confessed, but I lied, denying the truth. No one ever found out. Nearly 20 years later, Sheriff Brown’s name appears on my list.”
Jimmy Calkins didn’t know if Sheriff Brown was still alive, but he called information back in his hometown in Iowa. He got a listing for Roger Brown and he dialled the number. Someone picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” Jimmy Calkins said, “Sheriff Brown?” After a long pause, the man on the other side of the line said, “Yes.” Jimmy said, “Sheriff Brown, this is Jimmy Calkins and I just want you to know that I did it.” After another long pause, Sheriff Brown said, “I knew it!”
Jimmy Calkins said, “The two of us had a good laugh and talked for a few minutes, but I’ll never forget his final words. He said, ‘Jimmy, I always felt badly for you because your buddies got it off their chests, and I knew you were carrying it around all these years. I want to thank you for calling for your sake’!”
I think one reason why some of us aren’t enjoying the present moments of our lives is because of something that happened in the past. We can’t seem to let go of a hurt. We can’t seem to forget the pain or forgive the person who caused it. We have unresolved anger or disappointment or guilt. And it eats away at us. We repress it, but it’s like trying to keep a beach ball under the surface of the water, eventually it’s going to resurface and it usually pops up when we least expect it.
Have you ever gotten really mad about something really small? You had unresolved anger and the beach ball resurfaced. It is the cumulative effect - if you have unresolved anger it just builds up pressure until eventually you pop.
Ephesians 4:26 is some of the best advice in the Bible. It says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” In other words, don’t let anger go unresolved. The next verse says, “Settle matters quickly.”
We need to learn to let go so yesterday’s problems. Don’t carry over into today. And the truth is: there is nothing we can do about what happened in the past. Jesus didn’t live in the past. He said the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” He didn’t rehash the past.
How do we let go? You reconcile. You seek forgiveness or offer forgiveness. Forgiveness breaks the cycle. It brings closure. And it helps us be 100% present so we can live today to the fullest.
Jesus died and was raised again the third day so that we can live today to the fullest and know that tomorrow and eternity is life forever for those who believe.
