“Oh, I’m so sorry!” I blurted out as I accidentally bumped into someone. It’s easy to say sorry in that situation, but it’s much more difficult when the hurt goes very deep and a relationship is broken. Maybe we don’t feel sorry: they got what they deserved, we feel that right is on our side, so why apologise? Or we say: ”They started it, so it’s they who should say sorry”, and if they do, then maybe I’ll think about it.

So saying sorry depends on whether we feel guilty.

It also means that we admit the hurt that we have caused someone else. It gets very complicated, which is probably why we put off saying sorry, and we stay separated from someone else, sometimes for years. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes. But we know that being willing to say sorry is necessary if we want reconciliation.

I had a personal experience of this with a guy whom I had hurt many years ago with a decision I made which had bad consequences for him. He felt justifiably angry and it divided us.

One time he was down on holiday, so we met up in a pub, and sat down with a drink. I plucked up courage to say that I was truly sorry for what had happened, and after a lot of talking, we ended up hugging each other in full view of the rest of the pub! It was the beginning of our reconciliation.

As human beings we are separated from God by the wrong things we have said and done. If we want reconciliation with God the first step is to say ‘sorry’ to him for all the things which have divided us from him. It’s the first step to peace with God.