Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Unresolved Conflict
Weekend Music links on iTunes: The Time Has Come, Let God Arise, Strong Tower, Come Thou Fount
Read: Hebrews 12:13-14
Think: Have you ever been deeply hurt by someone you loved? I know, silly question. Who hasn’t? It seems like the closer a person is to us the more painful it can be. One might tend think that those that we love would be the ones who protect us not harm us. Perhaps that is why it is so painful when the reverse is true.
A few years ago I was serving in the youth program of a church. I had been assisting a youth pastor for 4 years when he suddenly had to step out of ministry because of some sinful choices. The whole church was hurting, especially the youth. Because of my relationship with the students the church leadership asked me to assume the lead until they figured out a long term plan. That’s when the pain intensified for me.
There was a person on the church staff who had been very instrumental in helping me grow in the Lord that felt so strongly that my taking the lead was wrong that they began to say and do very hurtful things. Every day I had to not only care for this group of hurting students but also deal with my own hurt being inflicted by this staff member.
My first thought was “This is not how Christians should act. Shouldn’t Christians live by a higher standard?” However, as the conflict continued my hurt turned to anger. God and I had some incredibly emotional conversations (He listened, I complained). I told God how wrong this person’s behavior was and what He should do about it. One day I sensed him speak back to me, “Don’t let bitterness take root, it will consume you.” My first response was that this couldn’t be God. The other person was clearly in the wrong and yet God was checking my attitude? However the next day when I was reading my Bible out jumped this scripture from Hebrews that said essentially the same thing. “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
Bitterness will consume your thoughts and take all your energy. If left unchecked it would spread to others. It was clear that God wanted me to be responsible for my own thoughts and actions not someone else’s. He wanted me to be the kind of “follower of Christ” that others would look up to not want to stay away from. The truth was, as long as I held on to my bitterness I would continue to experience the pain I was feeling.
Do: Who is God bringing to mind that you need to forgive? Perhaps the hurt is so deep that you feel forgiveness is impossible. You are still at the place where you rehearse over and over in your mind the hurt this person inflicted on you or how you want to hurt back. In my case I had to choose to forgive, sometimes multiple times a day, every time I began to play the scenario over again in my mind of what the person had said or done.
Pray: Heavenly Father, you know how hard this is for me to forgive ______________. I bring him/her to you today and leave them in your hands. I choose to forgive him/her for the pain they have caused. Lord help me to truly forgive. Amen
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.
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