When others cause emotional pain in your life, forgiveness is the only restorative option. Jesus explained that our forgiveness of others is tied to God’s forgiveness towards us.
Common Responses to Deep Hurt
When others hurt us deeply, our common response indicates our spiritual health.
- Bitterness – Have you allowed past hurt to cloud your present attitude?
- Revenge – Do you seek to repay others for the hurt they caused you?
- Isolation – Do you withdraw from others because maintaining a distrusting distance is safest?
- Unrighteousness – Are you justifying sin in your life as a coping mechanism?
- Forgiveness – Has the grace of Jesus transformed you so thoroughly that it seeps into all your relationships?
Jesus’ Stance on Intertwined Grace (6:14-15)
- Our selective standards amplify what others have done to us while diminishing what we have done to others.
- It is doubtful to be mobilized by grace if I can’t comprehend how desperately I need it.
- Jesus sought every single one of us while we were rebelliously mounting an insurrection against Him.
- Jesus’ stance on forgiveness isn’t conditional, but it is confirmational.
- While others’ debts are significant, they are redeemable once compared to the grace we’ve been shown (cf. Matt. 18:21-35).
Next Steps for Gracious Healing
- Trust in Jesus for the eager, complete, and transformative forgiveness of your sins.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen you to give grace to those who have hurt you.
- Pray that your tangible expression of grace could be part of that person’s redemption story.
- Use God’s standard of grace to define your own.
- Don’t confuse complete forgiveness with unchecked trust.
- Commit to the wisest path that offers grace to another and provides healing for you.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.