Leviticus 19:17 You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.

A lack of or poor communication can cause damage and division in any relationship. When a person makes a questionable statement, instead of asking what they truly meant, we assume they meant something negative.

After the statement is made, we should go to that person to confirm what they’re truly trying to say. If it’s just a misunderstanding, then we can move on. However, if their statement was hurtful or disrespectful to us, we should be honest with the person and tell them how it made us feel.

What they do next is out of our control. If they apologize, we can maintain a great relationship. If they don’t, then we know how they feel and we should allow the Holy Spirit to dictate the future of that relationship.

Regardless of how a person responds, we’ve done the work to clear our conscience by expressing ourselves to them.