January 28, 2025 - Exodus 22-24

“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.  If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution” (22:5,6).  These days, when apologies are made for spreading gossip, they often follow this pattern:  “If my words offended anyone, I apologize to them.”  Well, of course, they offended.  And not only that, those words were gossip.  They were meant to harm.  They were sinful.  The appropriate apology would look something like:  “I was wrong.  I was spreading gossip.  Please forgive me.”  The Bible never lets us off as easily as we would like; you know, “If my words offended . . .”  Always, when a wrong is committed, God requires acknowledgment of that wrong, repentance, and when restitution is required, that must be made.  If a man refuses to reign in his livestock with resultant destruction of his neighbor’s property, that man must make full restitution.  And so on.  Not only is such a requirement just but imagine the goodwill that results between two individuals when the one does what is right.  Oh, that we would all, in our daily interactions, take to heart the Scriptures and their direction for living.

Jesus, Lord, we look to thee,

let us in thy name agree:

show thyself the Prince of peace;

bid all strife for ever cease.

Make us of one heart and mind,

courteous, pitiful, and kind,

lowly, meek in thought and word,

altogether like our Lord.

Let us for each other care,

each the other's burden bear;

to thy church the pattern give,

show how true believers live.

Free from anger and from pride,

let us thus in God abide;

all the depths of love express,

all the heights of holiness.   -- Charles Wesley (1749)