From : http://www.rockofasheville.com
Receiving Grace to Overcome Bitterness
Hebrews 12:15
The two greatest needs in life are to love and to be loved. God made us to be relational!
In every relationship - no matter how distant or intimate - there exists the possibility (and the probability) of being hurt.
How you process those hurts is going to make all the difference in the world.
You can't stop hurt from coming - but you can decide how you will deal with it.
Bitterness is the result of unresolved hurts of the past.
When something is bitter – it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. When you've got a bad taste in your mouth – nothing tastes good. Even good things don’t taste good!
The root of bitterness is unresolved offenses.
1. Offenses must come.
Matthew 18:7
You must learn to deal with them because they WILL come.
Never let your heart get set on a person until you see how they deal with an offense. Eventually they will have to deal with being offended at you.
Determine to walk in a spirit of forgiveness. If you don’t learn to do this - you will ruin or lose every relationship in your life.
I’ve learned this in life: You can either be right or you can have relationships.
2. Offenses blind.
Once you get offended with someone you become blind to anything that is good about them. You begin to see through the eyes of offense rather than through the eyes of love.
You begin to build a case to justify your offense.
Philippians 1:9-10
Proper approval springs out of love - not criticism.
Of course there are things wrong with that person. There are things wrong with YOU, with ME – with all of us! It’s a given!
3. Bitterness from unresolved offense spreads.
Hebrews 12:15
Offense loves to gather people who share your offense - allowing you to validate your offense by rehearsing it over and over.
Forgiveness is the key to resolving bitterness.
Forgiveness releases them, and most importantly – it releases you from them!
Not forgiving is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
When we carry the hurts of the past, we are binding ourselves to the past.
How do we find the strength to forgive? By the grace of God.
The grace we receive is the grace we give.
When I receive grace – I recognize that my debt is paid. Then I can release grace – and recognize that your debt is paid too.
When we realize what we owe to God is far greater than what anyone could owe to us - we can release them.
Matthew 18:21-35
The grace of God doesn't say "You didn't do anything wrong". It just releases the debt, based on Jesus paying the price.
When we forgive, we're not saying "They didn't do wrong". We're just releasing the debt, based on Jesus paying the price.
Colossians 3:13
How do you find the grace to forgive? Receive the grace to forgive.
Luke 6:28
I’ve been making myself speak a blessing over the people who have hurt me. Let's face it – When we get hurt, emotions are involved. Emotions are like a big ship, turned by many small turns.
It takes many choices to forgive – and these small choices will turn your emotions.
God is not hard-hearted with this. He is not saying “All right, just forgive and get on with your life.”
Isaiah 61:1-3
Isaiah 42:1-3.
The Holy Spirit's special concern is the broken-hearted. If you've been bruised by hurts, if your fire is almost out - God is near to you.
God is the source of the grace you need to forgive others!
The two greatest needs in life are to love and to be loved. God made us to be relational!
In every relationship - no matter how distant or intimate - there exists the possibility (and the probability) of being hurt.
How you process those hurts is going to make all the difference in the world.
You can't stop hurt from coming - but you can decide how you will deal with it.
Bitterness is the result of unresolved hurts of the past.
When something is bitter – it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. When you've got a bad taste in your mouth – nothing tastes good. Even good things don’t taste good!
The root of bitterness is unresolved offenses.
1. Offenses must come.
Matthew 18:7
You must learn to deal with them because they WILL come.
Never let your heart get set on a person until you see how they deal with an offense. Eventually they will have to deal with being offended at you.
Determine to walk in a spirit of forgiveness. If you don’t learn to do this - you will ruin or lose every relationship in your life.
I’ve learned this in life: You can either be right or you can have relationships.
2. Offenses blind.
Once you get offended with someone you become blind to anything that is good about them. You begin to see through the eyes of offense rather than through the eyes of love.
You begin to build a case to justify your offense.
Philippians 1:9-10
Proper approval springs out of love - not criticism.
Of course there are things wrong with that person. There are things wrong with YOU, with ME – with all of us! It’s a given!
3. Bitterness from unresolved offense spreads.
Hebrews 12:15
Offense loves to gather people who share your offense - allowing you to validate your offense by rehearsing it over and over.
Forgiveness is the key to resolving bitterness.
Forgiveness releases them, and most importantly – it releases you from them!
Not forgiving is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
When we carry the hurts of the past, we are binding ourselves to the past.
How do we find the strength to forgive? By the grace of God.
The grace we receive is the grace we give.
When I receive grace – I recognize that my debt is paid. Then I can release grace – and recognize that your debt is paid too.
When we realize what we owe to God is far greater than what anyone could owe to us - we can release them.
Matthew 18:21-35
The grace of God doesn't say "You didn't do anything wrong". It just releases the debt, based on Jesus paying the price.
When we forgive, we're not saying "They didn't do wrong". We're just releasing the debt, based on Jesus paying the price.
Colossians 3:13
How do you find the grace to forgive? Receive the grace to forgive.
Luke 6:28
I’ve been making myself speak a blessing over the people who have hurt me. Let's face it – When we get hurt, emotions are involved. Emotions are like a big ship, turned by many small turns.
It takes many choices to forgive – and these small choices will turn your emotions.
God is not hard-hearted with this. He is not saying “All right, just forgive and get on with your life.”
Isaiah 61:1-3
Isaiah 42:1-3.
The Holy Spirit's special concern is the broken-hearted. If you've been bruised by hurts, if your fire is almost out - God is near to you.
God is the source of the grace you need to forgive others!
Published on Monday, October 11, 2010 @ 5:59 PM CDT
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