Jesse Jacobs has created an apology hotline that makes it possible to apologize without actually talking to the person you’ve wronged.

People who are unable or unwilling to unburden their conscience in person call the hotline and leave a message on an answering machine. Each week, thirty to fifty calls are logged, as people apologize for things from adultery to embezzlement.

“The hotline offers participants a chance to alleviate their guilt and, to some degree, to own up to their misdeeds,” said Jacobs.

The apology hotline may seem to offer some relief from guilt, but this is not how Jesus instructed His followers to handle conflict. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us to deal with conflict by taking the initiative and going to the offended brother to apologize for the offense (see Matthew 18). In fact, Jesus taught that the problem of human estrangement is so serious that we should even interrupt our worship to go on a personal mission of reconciliation (Matthew 5:24). The Master encouraged His followers to be reconciled to one another eagerly, aggressively, quickly, and personally (5:25).

Are any of your relationships broken or estranged because of something you said or did? Take the initiative. Go now and do all you can to be reconciled. —Marvin Williams

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.” —Matthew 5:23–25