15 “If your brother or sister[b] sins,[c] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[d] 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Wow... talk about rich verses. The first half of this is a set of verses that tend to cause an interesting phenomenon... everyone wants this verse to be applied to them, but no one wants to apply it. If you find out someone is upset with you, I guarantee the first thing you will say is, "Why didn't they just come tell me?" But, ironically, when we're upset with someone, we rarely go talk directly to them. We talk to our spouse, or our best friend, or whoever ends up standing behind us in the grocery line (or all of the above). And if someone calls us on it, we'll say, "Well, I didn't want to hurt her feelings!"
I say this pointing at myself, because I'm bad about this too. It's probably one of the hardest passages in the entirety of Scripture to act on. I think there are two applications for me: first, if I truly do have an issue with someone, this is what I must do. Second, if it's not a big enough deal for me to go talk to the person about (they, I don't know, are always late for lunch and it's super annoying, for instance), then it's not a big enough deal to talk to someone else about. Can you imagine the change if we all applied that rule? Wow. Us 1, gossip 0!
I have been working on this for a few weeks ago. With certain people and certain situations, I find myself slipping up. Repeatedly. It's very frustrating. But the good news is that at least now I'm aware of my weaknesses, and that means I can keep stamping them out, a little at a time.
The last paragraph of this is what I like to call a peanut-butter-in-the-gut promise. (Yes, I know. Very romantic!) It's one of those promises that sticks with you and can change you if you truly take hold of it. That if there if unity in our prayers - and I think this means true and passionate unity, not sort of a lukewarm, mumbly prayer for something-or-other - then it will be done for us. Because He is WITH us whenever we are together. About 90% of the time we use this verse as a prooftext regarding worship and forget its true purpose, which is to underline the fact that where we are, He is too. Powerful. And amazing.
I'm only on day thirty-two and I already have SO MUCH to think about. Can't wait to see how much I have to think about by day 332!
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