what is the wisdom in this............Matthew 5-23 24?

Question

i have presented my gift at the alter (tithing)

last night i had a dream of a former employer that at the time i left his employment
i was very angry with him and i burned with hate-red and only wished to hurt him

so I'm my anger I took important equipment from the job ( equipment that cant be replaced very easily)

knowing it would piss him off and hurt him

my letter with my gift is in the mail (leave your gift there in front of the alter" and i know that it hasn't arrived at the church (altar) yet

was this dream to tell me to find this employer and return the equipment and ask for forgiveness before my letter arrives????

the dream had nothing to do with the equipment

we were talking and sometimes he as happy and other times he was angry with me

just like our relationship

i called him on my cell phone and told him what i have done and

I told him over and over how sorry i was that i done it

Answer 1

Dear Emperor Fat Rat,

Matthew 5:23-24 is teaching us a very important principle about worship. When we worship God it includes our heart And the passage is teaching that our heart towards God can't be right if our heart towards other people are not right.

So the passage is saying that you know that there is something wrong between you and someone- you should be the person to go and take the initiative to fix it.

I'm not sure what you mean by your letter and i can not interpret dreams- but it seems that you have a conviction that you should return the equipment to your boss and make things right.

Don't worry about the order at this point since you've already tithed- but try to ressolve the situation as soon as possible with your boss- so that when you worship it won't be with this heavy thing looming over you.

Hope that helps- feel free to email me if you need any further assistance: [e-mail]

Nickster

Answer 2

Yes, because Jesus teaches that if your brother has somethig against you (which is to say, something reasonable, some way in which you have wronged him) then you are to clear that up or at least attempt to before presenting your gift. If you don't, your gift (the modern-day equivalent of a sacrifice) is made with an unrepentant heart and is unacceptable before the Lord.

Ideally you should go back to your employer and appologise and ask his forgiveness after returning the item. But simply returning it is a good first step if that is all you can bring yourself to do.

Most importantly, if you haven't done so already, is to try to forgive him for the wrongs he did you -- asking Jesus to help with this is a good idea. Because Jesus taught us to ask God "forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us" -- well in Jesus God HAS forgiven us our sins, so it is time for us to make good on the bargain.

Answer 3

Is the employer/stealing scenario real-life or a dream? I'll answer as though it is real-life.

I think that your conscience is telling you that you have reparations to make with this ex-employer, specifically, and that a generic offering to the church is not sufficient to heal that wound.

You have to address that ex-employer, directly, in order to put your conscience to rest. I think it's a great dream! Wouldn't the world be a better place if our conscious minds knew all that our subconscious minds know?

Answer 4

Your guilt bothers you. But there is nothing wrong if you do what your conscience dictates. If it is a just dream and it did not happen actually, then, just wake up and learn from it if there is anything to learn about.
In this modern days of ours, admitting your guilt is tantamount to other people taking advantage of your humility, so my advise is get a good lawyer before you make any step.

Answer 5

God is not pleased with sacrifice as against obidience. You cannot hate your neighbour and claim to love God. Jesus said love God with all you might, power, soul etc and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOUR SELF. Irrespective of the worth of your sacrifice, it will be worthless to God if you disobey him. Remeber the reasoning of King Saul (1Samuel 15: 1-9) when he disobeyed God and not destroy the city of Amalek.

Answer 6

i do not understand what you were doing with the letter and the gift... but if you have done anything wrong, just fix it.

Answer 7

Even if the dream isn't about that, isn't that the right thing to do?

Answer 8

Don't know about dreams... but you should do that none-the-less... that is one example of what those verses teach

Answer 9

Could be... but it would be a good thing to do in any case.

Answer 10

glad to see you fixed things