Going first

The devotions for this week are featured in LCA International Mission’s 2026 ‘Pentecost Devotional and Prayer Guide’ and are written by mission partners from around the world. LCA International Mission invites you to pray during Pentecost for the connections and ministries of our international partners. An electronic copy of the full devotional is available to download at the LCA International Mission website. Please email lcaim@lca.org.au or phone 08 8267 7317 to request a printed copy.

by Sivin Kit

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First be reconciled to your brother or sister (Matthew 5:24b).

Read Matthew 5:21–26

The room went silent. A participant had openly challenged a presenter. In my Malaysian–Chinese world, public criticism and embarrassment cut deep, especially when the critic holds more power. My instinct was to let it fade, but this would signal the behaviour was acceptable. I didn’t voice it then, but later, I found the courage to reach out. We sat down, and I said, ‘Your outburst wasn’t right.’ The conversation between us was uncomfortable. But paradoxically necessary. And liberating.

The pull to avoid conflict is real. True peace can’t ignore it. In Matthew 5, Jesus unpacks how conflict begins. It doesn’t jump straight to murder. The battle brews within us: anger hidden in our hearts, the dismissive insult, then the word that cuts through: ‘You fool.’ Long before anyone raises a fist, walls go up one thought at a time.

After the damage is done, who must go first? Not the person who was hurt, but the one who caused the offence. And yet I wrestled with this: if the offender never goes, the burden falls on the one wounded. But here I was in a third position. I chose to comfort the offended first, then speak to the offender. Peacemaking is picking up broken pieces and making a mosaic.

At the recent council meeting of the Lutheran World Federation, a global communion of churches from over 99 countries, we began morning prayer by facing one another and saying: ‘Forgive me, a sinner.’ The reply came, sometimes with a sign of the cross: ‘God forgives.’ Then together, each in our own language, we prayed the Lord’s Prayer, the words ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’ rising in many tongues at once. Different languages, drawn together by the same Spirit who fell on the disciples gathered in prayer at Pentecost.

Many are hungry for reconciliation. In Malaysia, Malay–Muslim friends greet one another at their festivals with ‘Maaf, Zahir Batin’, which means ‘Forgive me, inside and out’. As Christians, we share that hunger but stand on this ground: we forgive because God has first forgiven us.

So who is going first? Perhaps you’re the one who must initiate. Perhaps you’re called to name how you’ve been hurt, or you find yourself in between. In the end, the offender did reach out. There was an apology. Forgiveness. Some healing. I don’t know if there was full reconciliation. But at least there was movement in the right direction.

Blessed are the peacemakers. Not because it’s easy. But because when we go first, what was ugly can turn into something new and even something beautiful.

Is there someone with whom you need to seek peace? What step might God be calling you to take toward reconciliation?

Pray for God to give the Lutheran World Federation leaders and members the courage to address conflicts honestly, the grace to seek reconciliation and the wisdom to be peacemakers in a divided world. Pray that, across languages, cultures and nations, the global Lutheran communion will bear witness to the reconciling love of Christ and reflect the unity created by the Holy Spirit.

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