Last week I shared how many of us have unknowingly adapted to living in a state of offense. When we live in a state of offense, we experience a myriad of negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, bitterness, resentment, and hatred.
Negative emotions alert us to the emotional road signs that we have a heart issue that needs to be resolved with the Lord.
Sometime back I came across a Facebook post with a news media link that two juveniles were arrested in connection to wildfires. I clicked to read more. When I did, comments were already being made about how the juveniles needed to be charged and convicted as adults. I began to feel anxious reading those comments.
As the mother of a convict, it brought back a flood of memories of when my son’s case went to trial the news media posted slanted reports and people made vitriolic comments based on what they read in the media. And the media does not report the whole truth, only what is released to the public.
Immediately, I felt defensive and wanted to do something. I posted a comment on that thread asking them to refrain from making premature judgments about the accused until more was known about the actual case.
What happened next? The people attacked me with their words. After several unkind comments, I deleted my comment.
The intensity of my negative emotions increased significantly. But God. He used my negative emotions to point me to the realization that I still held unforgiveness in my heart toward the people who made caustic comments against my son on the news and social media sites.
After I acknowledged my hurt to the Lord, He showed me that Jesus was ridiculed by the public when He was arrested, taken to trial, and even when He hung on the cross with His life seeping out of Him. That’s when He spoke, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus released His hurts and forgave those who ridiculed Him!
Following Jesus’ example, I released the hurts to the Lord and forgave the people who made vitriolic comments. Now when I see those types of comments on the news and social media sites, I see them from a different perspective. One that knows that they do not understand what they are saying or doing. And I ask the Lord to forgive them.
Did I forget? Of course not. The memory is embedded in my mind. But when that memory is recalled, I no longer feel the negative emotions.
Negative emotions are road signs that we have unresolved heart issues. Forgiveness is the first step to healing the heart.
Do you have a memory that stirs up negative emotions? Choose today to release those negative emotions through forgiveness.
Let’s pray: Father God, I come humbly before you today. I acknowledge I have emotional road signs of negative emotions in my heart. I feel angry, hurt, betrayed, anxious, bitter, resentful and hateful when I think about _________. Lord, like Jesus forgave those who persecuted Him, I choose to forgive [person’s name] for [name the act committed that caused the hurt]. Lord, I ask You to heal the hurt in my heart. I desire to receive Your healing and be released from the negative emotions. In Jesus name, Amen.
