Sunday, January 26, 2014

It is Time to Let Go! - Phil 3:13

It is Time to Let Go!
January 26, 2014
Phil 3:13

INTRODUCTION
  • The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus of Munster in Ireland, around 445 ad.
  • Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot.
  • After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness.
  • Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, 'I thought it was part of the ritual.'"
  • Many of us have experienced pain
  • That pain may come from hurts, betrayals, offences and painful experiences
  • Why is it so hard to let these things go?
  • Why do hurts sometimes go down so deep that we can't seem to forget them?
  • And how can we move beyond this pain and leave it behind?
  • This morning we are going to examine the subject of letting go of hurts.

WHAT CAUSES HURTS?
  • We can be hurt by many things
  • Like king Aengus, the hurt may be a physical pain, a cut, a broken bone, a torn ligament. Our physical bodies will heal and the pain will lessen and be gone
  • It is the pain we experience in our emotions, that is so tough to leave behind.
  • The hurt is there because someone close to us damaged us in some way
  • Sometimes the hurt is intentional, while other times it may be due to misunderstanding
  • Something may be said thoughtlessly, and cause pain.
  • Other times the thing that was said innocently may hit a raw nerve, and we experience pain, not because of the word that was said, but because of an earlier hurt which had not yet been resolved.
  • There are many ways in which we can be hurt
  • James 3:2 – it is so easy to offend. We all do it.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO LET GO?
  • Part of the reason why it is hard to let go of hurts, is that this is not the only time we have been hurt.
  • If hurts are not dealt with appropriately as we go through life, the pan accumulates.
  • Until finally we can't take it any more and we explode in anger, at either the actual source of the pain, someone else who hurt us in the past, or an innocent bystander who has nothing to do with it!
  • Past hurts lead us to put up defenses, to prevent us being hurt again.
  • Prov 18:19
  • We may withdraw from people, we may change our personality and become abrasive or angry, we avoid certain people, we attack them by gossiping about them. There are so many kinds of defenses.
  • But they all revolve around protecting our self. It is us who has been hurt and we will not allow that to happen again.

A CHANGED PERSPECTIVE
  • It is good to look at how God would want us to react.
  • Often in the heat of the moment we do not think like that, but now, after some time has passed, we can look at the better way to deal with it
  • Jesus set us an example
  • Isa 53:3-7
  • Jesus experienced rejection, humiliation, mocking, gossip, false accusations, all kinds of things that cause deep wounds in our soul
  • Yet he did not respond in kind, he did not lash out, or get even, even in his inner thoughts
  • Instead, he said “Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34)
  • He looked at the bigger picture. His suffering in this life was to pave the way for forgiveness for any who turn to him
  • By the pain of his stripes, we receive healing
  • Healing of our emotions is possible and it is offered to us as a part of Jesus' sacrifice for us.
  • Looking at the bigger perspective, allows us to forgive the person who has hurt us, from the heart
  • Matt 18:35
  • We do this because we see that we too need that forgiveness, so we extend forgiveness to the other
  • Then the way is clear for Jesus to bring healing in our soul
  • He removes the pain from the memory and enables us to move on

CONCLUSION

  • We have a choice.
  • We can hang onto the hurts of the past, because they give us a sense of power over the other individual
  • Or we can forgive that person, totally, and then ask Jesus to heal the pain we have been suffering
  • It is time to let go of past hurts
  • The past has held us back
  • It is time now, to let go of that hurt that held us back, and be released to move forward into the future God intends for us

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