🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

The Lord recently reminded me of a time I struggled with a damaged relationship. I asked Him "How do I let go of hurt and bitterness? What would You say to me?" A list of everything I was NOT exuding flashed through my mind: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Sound familiar? It's the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. I turned to the famous chapter and found another list before that one.

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these... anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." (Gal 5:19,20)

Hostility, quarreling, outburst of anger, and selfish ambition? The outpourings of my heart looked more like the "following the sinful nature" list than the fruit of the Spirit one. God answered my questions a few verses later.

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there." (Gal 5:24)

How do I get rid of my hurt? Kill it. It's a big ask, and we usually don't know how when we're in the thick of it. I use a prompt as my script when I'm stuck. After I've poured out my pain before the Lord, I go one step deeper. I'll say, "The truth is..." And intentionally switch from my "I feels..." to what is true about the person's character, the relationship, and the nature of God. He doesn't invalidate our pain. He grieves with us. But our good, good Father came to save us from the even greater pain of "not inheriting the Kingdom of God" (Gal5:20). We find our weapons of choice in the presence of Truth: a hammer, nail and a cross.

Listen to Chris Tomlin's "At the Cross".