Just me sharing my thoughts about life and all that goes with it.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Fighting the good fight.
Find it hard to be a Christian sometimes? Just wish you could let go and let your sinful nature take rule? To be completely honest, I've felt this way before...on several occasions too.
I think people often forget that Christians are human. That sometimes we want revenge. Sometimes we want to see people hurt like like they hurt us. Sometimes we don't want the best for people. Sometimes we want to see them suffer.
Just because we are Christians doesn't mean that automatically all the desires of the flesh just disappear! No, it's a fight. It's hard work. When someone hurts you, I mean really hurts you, it's hard at times to react in love. A lot of times our first reaction is to hurt them back...but to hurt them much worse. Those are characters of the flesh, things that come naturally to us and we, as Christians, have to work hard to overcome them and on our own, it's just not possible.
Jesus says we are to love our enemies. To pray for those who hurt us. To forgive.
Forgiving is hard. We want to hold on to our grudges. We want to put them in jars and set them on the shelf and show everyone "See! See! This is how you hurt me. This is what you did to me." And the thought of forgiving someone sometimes makes us feel as though we are letting them get away with what they did. Like, if we don't forgive them then they would really be miserable and maybe hurt like they hurt us. But the truth is, the only person we hurt by not forgiving is ourselves.
Jesus says to forgive as He has forgiven us and that if we don't forgive others then our Father wont forgive us.
I've heard it said "I just can't forgive. This is too big. Too deep. Too hurtful" I'm here to tell you that no matter the hurt, no matter how deep the wound, no matter how hard the fall, forgiveness is something you CAN do. Why? Because Jesus would never, NEVER tell us to do something that isn't possible for us to achieve.
Can you do it alone? No. You need God's help. Will it happen instantly? Probably not. Does it mean you'll forget what happened? Nope. Will the pain go away instantly? Not always. But, when you forgive it's like you're cutting the chains that have been holding you down and you stand up and get back up. You're now free and now God can move in your life like never before. There is no unforgiveness taking up the space in your life so that leaves more room for God, more room for His healing love.
You know the Bible refers to our Christian life as a battle - 'fighting the good fight of faith. - So keep on fighting today and in Christ and in Him alone, victory is found. You can win.
Nice post! I have to say that until recently (a year or so ago) I really didn't know what it felt like to truly forgive someone who hurt you. A big part of me being able to forgive and truly get over and through my pain was to understand the whys. I am a very hands-on person. I like to see with my eyes or at least grasp and understand things. I forgave my mother for a lot of things but it wasn't until 12 years after leaving her could I do this. The number one thing was becoming a mother myself (helped with the understanding part) the other was being in a place to even begin to understand that sometimes people really aren't out to hurt us that they, themselves, are just trying to survive. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it's not. I'm not saying it's ok: I am just stating a fact. Like you said we all have flesh reactions. Reactions to things in our lives that aren't necessarily godly. But it is our job to not act on those things and try to look at the whole picture. Their past and present; our past and present. And how those things are going to affect both of our futures. Sometimes it is about truly turning the other cheek even though you don't understand the whole situation and your pain feels greater than anyone could possibly understand. With time comes understanding. The further you are from the situation the better you will be able to look at it's entirety and not just the "heat of the moment". Not to mention it will give you time to talk and pray to God about the whole thing. Allowing him to calm your heart, your mind and your soul.
I am reminded of the scars of Chrsit. Even though Jesus paid the ultimate price to seal our forgiveness, he still carries the scars, and perhaps forever. Likewise with us, even though we may forgive people, we still may carry scars from whatever it is they done to us.
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that until recently (a year or so ago) I really didn't know what it felt like to truly forgive someone who hurt you. A big part of me being able to forgive and truly get over and through my pain was to understand the whys. I am a very hands-on person. I like to see with my eyes or at least grasp and understand things.
I forgave my mother for a lot of things but it wasn't until 12 years after leaving her could I do this. The number one thing was becoming a mother myself (helped with the understanding part) the other was being in a place to even begin to understand that sometimes people really aren't out to hurt us that they, themselves, are just trying to survive. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it's not. I'm not saying it's ok: I am just stating a fact.
Like you said we all have flesh reactions. Reactions to things in our lives that aren't necessarily godly. But it is our job to not act on those things and try to look at the whole picture. Their past and present; our past and present. And how those things are going to affect both of our futures.
Sometimes it is about truly turning the other cheek even though you don't understand the whole situation and your pain feels greater than anyone could possibly understand. With time comes understanding. The further you are from the situation the better you will be able to look at it's entirety and not just the "heat of the moment". Not to mention it will give you time to talk and pray to God about the whole thing. Allowing him to calm your heart, your mind and your soul.
I am reminded of the scars of Chrsit. Even though Jesus paid the ultimate price to seal our forgiveness, he still carries the scars, and perhaps forever.
ReplyDeleteLikewise with us, even though we may forgive people, we still may carry scars from whatever it is they done to us.