Resolve Conflict
The right time to abandon your church service (according to Jesus)
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So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there you 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 and then come and present your gift.
Matthew 5:23-24 (NET)
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This is a tough passage.
Resolving conflict — rather than ignoring it or avoiding it — is a hard thing.
What’s more, Jesus here puts the ownership on initiating the conflict resolution squarely on the shoulders of the person who notices that there’s an issue. In this case, if I’m in the middle of worship and remember that someone close to me has an issue with me, it’s better for me to just get up and leave to try and resolve the conflict than it is to continue on in worship.
Who’s actually doing that?
I’ll be honest, I would rather make a note in my calendar to set time aside to resolve things and then get back to worship.
That’s how I handle most important things: schedule time in my calendar to deal with them and then get back to whatever it was that I was doing.
Does this make me disobedient to Christ?
I’m not sure.
I know that when I schedule things this way — especially for something crucial like handling conflict — that I’m resolved in my heart to do it.
Yet that’s not the same as walking out of the worship service and taking care of things right away.
I don’t know.
Like I said before, it’s a tough passage.
Which is one of the reasons I’ve memorized it, to challenge me and, hopefully, make me a better person.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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