"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, {24} "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

God has placed an importance on our relationships with others. Those relationships are so important to God that he says that we should not even worship Him if we have a problem in one of our relationships. You are bringing your gift to the alter. You have come to worship God. It is in your heart to worship God. But, the Holy Spirit reminds you that you have an unresolved issue with another person.

Now the word here is brother, but it means a near brother or a distant brother, and because of the rules of the Greek, it could well mean sister, near sister or distant sister. In other words, another person, no matter your actual relationship. The Holy Spirit reminds you that you have this unresolved issue, so Jesus tells us quite specifically, don’t try to worship God, resolve that issue with that other individual and then return to worship, to present your gift on the alter.

I have been watching the Gary Smalley video tape series, "Love Is a Decision" again and he makes a point of the importance of our relationships. Now he points to the husband - wife relationship and refers to 1 Peter 3:7, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered."

Here Peter is writing about husbands and wives, and he is saying that our relationship with our spouse is extremely important to God. Notice, our relationship with our spouse has a direct impact on our prayer life. Peter tells the husband to honor his wife, Smalley puts it this way, Awe nor (HONOR). Think of the one person in this world you would really feel honored to meet, or to visit your home. I was privileged to meet a honest to goodness American Hero and I was Awe nored. I met and shook the hand of General of the Army Omar Bradley just a few months before he passed away.

The feeling of honor is something I should cultivate in my relationship with my wife. Now just because Peter is addressing the husband does not mean that the wife is off the hook because the wife should honor her husband. Ephesians 5:33 "Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

Men, one day, we come home and find the kitchen sink is filled with dirty dishes, the Landry is not done and the wife is lying on the sofa with a terrible migraine head ache. We could blow up, we could have started ragging on her, "what have you been doing all day, the least you could have done is load the blankity blank dish washer."

How would that make her feel?

On the other hand we could honor her, we could place value on her, we could have sympathy for her, we could be compassionate, we could be tenderhearted. We might start the laundry, load the dishes in the dish washer and put on a couple of stakes and potatoes.

I was trying for an illustration for the ladies, but everything I would come up with was inappropriate or artificial, but the principle is the same. If your husband is really wrung out from work, do you place value on him? Or do you start ragging on him about the things that need attending to at home? Do you show a little compassion? Or do you push him?

Our relationships are very important to God and should be important to us. We should value the other person, treat them with (HONOR)!