Recently, my Sunday School has been studying the Sermon on the Mount. It’s led to me thinking about a lot of things, but perhaps none more than the difference between actions and attitudes. For instance, it’s important to not murder people. However, being angry at someone can be just as damaging… and conceivably is the root cause of most homicides. Thus, if you can control your attitude of anger, you need not worry about it manifesting as the act of murder.

But what about positive attitudes?

Many, many times in life I have gone into situations with a positive attitude and good intentions. However, that hasn’t always equaled good outcomes. In fact, I sometimes end up hurting people I care about despite wanting, and feeling, the opposite.

In the past, I’ve thought that since my attitude was correct, it was simply an unfortunate accident that my actions damaged someone else’s feelings. In trying to do my best, I had done everything I could, and thus my actions were justified. Not necessarily right, but excused by my good intentions.

I’ve since decided it doesn’t matter.

Don’t get me wrong. I want my heart to always be in the right place. However, part of that means that I’m wrong if my actions I hurt someone else. Period. I doesn’t matter if I was striving for the opposite.

Following through on that conviction hasn’t been particularly easy for me.

It’s much easier to cling to pride than admit that my best sometimes isn’t good enough.

However, that’s probably exactly why it’s so important for me to apologize when I hurt someone else. It’s good, not just for the relationship, but also for me as a person.