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Why has apologies become a thing of the past?  None of us are perfect, which means there are going to be times when we do things, say things, and react wrongly to situations. The godly thing to do is admit in the midst of your imperfect dwelling on this earth, once again you messed up and apologize.

Apologizing. Ugh! Most of us hate to have to do it. It’s hard to admit when we were wrong and even harder to ask someone to forgive us. Even if an incident occurs and each of you owe the other an apology, those of us who say we serve the King of Kings should apologize, whether the other person apologizes or not.  Our apology should first and foremost be done because of the relationship we have with God, because we respect His Word as true.

Apologizing is part of seeking humility, and humility is a character quality God holds in high esteem. James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt you.” Apologizing humbles us by reminding us that we are not perfect and we need forgiveness from God and from other people.

And here is a newsflash that I am sure we also don’t want to accept. Many times simply saying “I’m sorry” is not a full apology because it does not take into account the level of wrong done. There are times when we accidentally bump into someone or say something we shouldn’t. Those little errors, done without evil intent, are easy to apologize for with an “I’m sorry.” 

But when we have truly wronged someone,when you have intently spewed words to degrade or belittle someone that person needs us to validate the pain we caused. A real apology sounds something more like this: “I was wrong to ________. I know I hurt you and I am sorry that I did. Would you please forgive me? How can I make this right?”

King Saul gave us an example of an insufficient apology. He disobeyed a direct command from the Lord, and Samuel confronted him. Saul at first denied any wrongdoing but, when pressed, admitted he had sinned against God. Still, he blamed his wrongdoing on a desire to please the people . He was sorry he got caught but not humble enough to truly admit his wrong. God was not impressed with Saul’s apology and took his kingdom from him .

When we know we have wronged God or someone else, God expects us to make it right. We make things right with God by repenting of that sin, confessing it to Him, and receiving His forgiveness (1 John 1:9). We make things right with others by apologizing—admitting our wrong, asking for forgiveness, and offering to make restitution. When we have wronged someone else, we should do whatever we can to make it right.  (Matthew 5:23–24) Being reconciled to an offended brother or sister should be a top priority.

We have families torn, friends at odds with each other, dynamic business deal crushed all because of pride and arrogance.  Issues that could easily be solved with the admittance of wrong, an apology and forgiveness.

We were created to dwell together in a spirit of unity and since we were not created perfect, know that humility is the only path of harmony.

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