bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you. Luke 6:28 (KJV).

REFLECT:
It is amazing how healing, restoration, and newness of life can come out of unlikely situations, attitudes, or circumstances. As human beings living in the world that we do, it is very likely that at some point in our lives we have been terribly hurt by other people. These people may be mere acquaintances or even very closely related to us, which may make the way we feel even worse.

How common it is for people when hurt or offended to lash out at those who have perpetrated such offensive acts against them. After all, we are human and we have feelings!

However, no matter how much we console ourselves or make excuses for our human tendencies and emotions, we later find out that we have derived little or no comfort or pleasure from our outbursts of anger or retaliation, no matter how justified our behavior may be.

Worst still, we find out that these feelings may even linger on, thus trapping us in a vicious cycle of hate, unforgiveness, and revenge, which may further take us down paths of untold suffering, pain, illnesses, and even untimely death. These situations are very toxic to our well-being.

Our Lord Jesus gives us a solution out of this sort of lifestyle. In today’s Bible verse He categorically tells us how we must behave or react to offenses. He gives us very unlikely measures to follow to help us resolve conflicts that would have caused us more harm than we would have ever imagined, such as the harmful and toxic problems mentioned earlier.

The following is a summary of what Our Lord Jesus says in this Bible verse: firstly, we should do good to our haters, do not pay evil for evil. Secondly, we should bless those who curse us. We do not have to accept the curses they put on us, however, we bless them rather than curse them back. Thirdly, we should pray for those who mistreat us.

These suggestions may look difficult to accomplish, especially when we have gone through untold hardship, hurt, and trauma from such perpetrators. Nevertheless, if we must move forward into the healing and restoration God has for us, we must let go by forgiving these people. For it is from the unlikely places of forgiveness and reconciliation that healing can be perfected.

More importantly, God wants us to trust Him completely with our emotions, feelings, and actions. He is the only one who is in control of judgment, and vengeance belongs to Him. Romans 12:9.

Above all, we know that God will not leave us to do this work in our strength, that is why He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us through this process. All we must do is wholeheartedly submit to the Holy Spirit to help us.

When we make it a point to constructively apply the strategies of forgiveness and restoration Jesus recommends, we will be amazed to see how God works on our behalf by opening up doors of deliverance to healing, restoration, and newness of life to us.

Ebimobo W. Obasi

PLEASE PRAY ALONG:

Change My Heart.

FATHER GOD, please change the way I approach hard situations and difficult people. You have always had every right to hold Your anger against us—but instead, you died for us. In doing this, you blessed us with the opportunity to experience eternal life with You. So, Lord, please align my life with Your heart for the world. When I look at someone, help me see them the way You do and show me how to bless them. In JESUS MIGHTY NAME AMEN.