The Will To Make Amends

Making amends requires a will to do so.  Some of us struggle to be sorry for our harmful actions towards another and want to justify ourselves for what we did.  The goal of Step 9 is that wherever possible we are to make amends to people we have harmed, 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)

The above scripture says God forgave us all our sins and blotted out the charges proved against us.  We know what we have done and yet God was willing to have Jesus pay the penalty for our sin so we could be set free.  Some people we have harmed may also have harmed us or others known to us, and we may be hesitant to take the first step to make direct amends to them.  We may believe their sin is greater than ours, so they deserve what we did to them.  This is not God’s way of dealing with sin. 

When we are selective about making amends it may indicate that there is a lack of repentance for the sins we have committed, or we may simply be unwilling to love a person because of the harm they have caused us or those dear to us.  As we see this person in the light of God’s love for us and decide to treat them as God has treated us, making amends will become 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 so that I may do so with a willing heart.  Amen

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