“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
Matthew 18:15-17

The reality is that at some point in your life, in the past, present and future, there is a 100% chance that you will be wronged in some way. Someone will say something about you that isn't true. Someone will gossip about you. Someone you know will intentionally or unintentionally do something that damages your reputation. It's going to happen. The real question is not if this will happen, the real question is when this happens, and how you will respond. Will you respond in a wise way or a foolish way? What you do in response to an offense is one of the greatest indicators of your spiritual maturity and measure of your growth and closeness to Christ. So how should we respond to being wronged? The good news is that the bible tells us. The main advice for this type of offense or hurt is that you need to be intentional about addressing what happened and not simply ignoring it or responding to it emotionally. Below are 5 simple steps based on today's passage that will help you do this in a healthy way.

• Step 1: Go - You take the first step. Even if you feel that they should come to you.
• Step 2: Go Now - Don’t wait or hesitate, the longer it takes, the more wounds there are to heal.
• Step 3: Go Alone - Go to that person directly and in private. Don’t go sideways and talk to everyone else besides the person you should be talking to.
• Step 4: Go to Reconcile the relationship - The goal is not to argue, fight or get back at them. The goal should always be restoration.
• Step 5: Let it Go - Once you’ve said the truth, don’t harbor a grudge or bitterness, or bring up past hurts that you've held onto.

Whenever you are wronged, or when you feel like you have been wronged but aren't sure if it was intentional or not, follow these 5 simple steps. You will save yourself a lot of headache and heartache both for you and the person on the other end if you build this response into your lifestyle. If they don’t want to reconcile, or even talk about what happened, that is up to them. But you did your part. You are not responsible for their response, only for your own. You did the wise and biblical thing, and that's the best thing you could do!