Restitution

Call to Prayer

Title: Restitution

By: Simon Nuhu Maina

Date: 08.10.2021

“If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbor in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbor; ³Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: ⁴Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall ‘restore’ that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, ⁵Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering”. 

Leviticus 6:1-5

Restitution otherwise commonly known by many as restoration is an important Bible doctrine that most Christian congregations, assemblies, denominations and groups do not emphasize on. In the activities of men, there is bound to be misunderstanding, cheating, lying, illegal possession of things not belonging to oneself and other miscellaneous reckless moral characters. God Almighty in His infinite wisdom knows all things (Human behaviors and mindset alike) and has first established the commandment through His servant Moses. The carnal mind always crave for sinful adventures that satisfy it at all cost because the “seed of God is not there”. Restitution is about making amends of what one has done unfairly or badly to another while living in addicted life of sin, and this could be cheating, stealing, defrauding, false accusation, lying against the innocent etc. God expressly commanded the Israelites to make restitution to their “neighbors” whom they have done wrong to, now who were their neighbors? of course, in this context, the neighbors are not only immediate door neighbors, they may be colleagues, casual friends, random strangers, acquaintances, benefactors, Bosses at work etc.

Coming to the new dispensation(New Covenant), a lot of Christians today feel this is no longer applicable since Jesus has done it all, and that the coming of Christ has abolished it. Well, God is a just God, and He is a Faithful rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.  It is paramount that restitution is made after genuine repentance, as the Bible says ‘if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature’. Before we met Christ, we were helplessly wallowing in abundant sin, there are things we did that we will never forget and our conscience remains restless whenever we commit them. That includes the bad things done to others which when we meet the victims of our sin, our heart will beat so fast. Some people assume that coming before God for repentance is just enough, that might not be enough we need to go and settle our issues with the people we treated unfairly or falsely. This might appear difficult or practically impossible as we might have forgotten many of our past misdeeds to others. However, like I earlier highlighted, there are major things we did in our lives that we can never forget in a hurry. Even if we sincerely forget or we can’t actually remember; we can ask the Holy spirit to reveal them to us.

A typical Biblical example of ‘genuine’ repentance was demonstrated by Zacchaeus (Luke 19:8-9) where he willfully vowed to “restore” even by fourfold that which he had falsely or forcefully taken from any man. Jesus was excited and said ‘This day salvation has come to this house’. Now, this statement was not made by Jesus because Zacchaeus was just curious to see Jesus, but because Zacchaeus  was truly sorry for his sins and he was ever willing to make restitution. God is happy when we humbly come to Him in repentance and He is happier when we try to make amends of our past with the people we wronged. Have we ever wondered or asked why the Bible instructed us that before taking Holy communion, we must first of all go and make it right with our brothers? People around us God often refers to them as our ‘neighbors’ and ‘brothers’. If we ask God to forgive us our sins, He surely will. But does that mean He is comfortable with us not seeking the forgiveness of men? No! God wants us to live void of accusation of men, and for us to achieve that, we must make effort to right our wrongs so that they will see our “true” transformation and give glory to our Father who is in Heaven.

Prayer Point

Let us appreciate God for the His word today. Let us also ask Him to help us with the courage and strength to reach out to the people we have wronged in the past in order to be complete indeed before God our creator so nobody will accuse us in the last day.

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