Grace, Forgiveness & Love
So far the review I’ve done with this book ("Making Peace with your Past", by Normal Wright)has included looking into your past to find the root of some emotional disturbances and learning a more effective self-talk for dealing with those disturbances.. or to put it plainly, the enemy of your soul lies to you constantly, especially for some through negative memories of their parents.
Grace is giving someone something they do not deserve. Forgiveness is allowing claims that you hold against others to no longer count against them. Love includes all of that.
It may be extremely hard to love the people that hurt you. If you cannot yet do it n your own strength, I encourage you as an ambassador of God to represent His love to them. God loves them and you enough that even while we hated him, He would lay His life down to start a relationship with us. As an ambassador for Christ I encourage you to allow those claims to die.
"Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
In practicality, when the anger creeps up, or the negative feelings about yourself what this looks like is you reminding yourself of the goodness of God. The he things he has done and the things He is doing. When the frustration, depression or hatred of yourself is detected, find a way of quieting your spirit before the Lord and reminding it of how good God is. David wrote songs to quiet his soul. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. (Psalms 42:5) Saul listened to some spirit-anointed music to calm his afflicted soul. Jesus cried out to His Father when he was in emotional turmoil. Simmilarly Paul exhorts us to combat anxiety with thanksgiving, prayers and petitioning God with the things we want. If you are having a hard time reminding yourself of God’s words, explain what you are feeling to someone you trust that knows God. They can help you remember what God is saying as well. The key is when your emotions start to go haywire, take it as an alarm clock that it’s time to realign your soul to the promises of God.
In this way you can be ready to be the ambassador of God to those people that have hurt you and finally and completely recover from those wounds.
Peace in Christ.
Edit: I may be done with this book review I may have one or two more things to say about it. I will be teaching a class however on relationships and recovery and how being prepared for that sort of ministry. I will be using another dealing with emotional health in relationships, "Boundaries" and posting all my notes here in this same fashion. Let me know if you like them or disagree with them. J
Edit PS: I added a bunch of links. I think I will do this for all future entries. Enjoy!
The way Paul taught to combat this assault on your mind is to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5) meaning we don’t simply accept and repeat those lies to ourselves but we combat them with the way God thinks about us.
What comes next is adopting the same character of Christ that He applies to us. We do not deserve for Him to simply forget the things we’ve done wrong. By all rights, we deserve to experiences the consequences that our choices have brought. But Jesus steps in the way. He takes the wrath that you and I deserved. He takes the punishment we we’re left standing there in wonder and awe.
Let me at this point add that while the gift was free to receive it was not free to give nor should it have a nonchalant affect on our attitudes. Our response to Him is of our own free will. Most of us respond with thanks and amazement and praise. Beyond that many of us express our gratitude with devotion, that is, we give ourselves to Him. This is the calling of the Christian, the response of giving one’s entire self to Him is at once an act of thanks and of trust; trust that He is worthy and able to sustain a relationship of this type.
For the person who has taken that step, the fruits are most likely already evident. As you take on the new identity as a child of God you learn that as God is forgiving, so should you be. You agree that you have freely received and agree to freely give (Matt 10:8). And beyond intellectual decisions, as you draw closer to God and develop a stronger relationship with him, you being to believe what He says about you more, the Holy Spirit comes and heals those old, you claim you new identity more readily and, acting more like God, you become more forgiving, you have more grace, you love those who, due to trespasses were unlovable to you.
It is valuable for a certain effect to remember old wounds. This is to gain understanding of why you have certain reactions to certain people. But it is essential for you as a child of God, letting go of your flesh to espouse the attitude of God and forget them. I love how some Bibles translate 1 Cor 13:5, “love keeps no record of wrongs.” How similar is that to God’s memory of our own sins?