Making amends requires a will to do so. Some of us struggle to be sorry for our actions towards another or are more offended by what they did. The goal of Step 9 is to make amends to people we have harmed, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins, and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross. (Colossians 2:13-14 TLB)
Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ERV)
When we are selective about making amends it may indicate that there is a lack of repentance about the sins we have committed, or we are unwilling to love a person because of the harm they have caused. Perhaps we need to see this person in the light of God’s love for us and treat them as God has treated us, then making amends should be easier.
We love because God first loved us. God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:19, 21 ERV)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I want to make direct amends to everyone I have harmed and ask that You fill me with Your love for them so that I may do so with a willing heart. Amen
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