Friday Fight 143: The Sequencing of Sin
Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF143.
How many of us are embracing the new year and are excited about what will come? We began 2024 lifting those who haven't experienced the warmth of Christ's love and learning about the importance of fellowship with Christ's unparalleled sacrifice as an example. We are washed clean of our sins, hurt, and deep wounds by Him for fellowship with Him. But what happens when wounds are so profound that past hurts continue to resurface? Perhaps we thought we had forgiven someone until something happened, and suddenly, we are reliving the pain once again. We were doing our best to forget, so how do we heal and get past this?
The Sequencing of Sin:
What does sin have to do with deep wounds? To answer this, let's apply the word sequencing to reading. When reading, sequencing is a skill used to separate the story's beginning, middle, and end. Let's apply this skill to past hurts that still ache. Similar to a physical wound, we have pain from being hurt and pain from deep wounds that have impacted us to our core. A good analogy would be comparing a small cut requiring a few stitches to a severe break that must be exposed, set in place, and rehabilitated to heal appropriately. If not taken care of correctly, the pain of a deep wound will likely resurface. When people and situations leave us deeply wounded in a way we physically carry, our ability to move past it and find freedom takes more time. When we sequence the story of our lives, we may be stuck in the middle of the story God has written for us.
So, what can we do to forgive someone who has severely wounded us? We may believe we have forgiven a person until someone mentions their name. We may have hurt someone and need to acknowledge our sin and stop making excuses for ourselves. After all, we cannot address something we have not even acknowledged.
The sequence of sins that left us hurting begins with pain. If left untreated, it moves to anger, and finally, bitterness begins to take root. This process hardens our hearts, and unforgiveness changes how we carry ourselves, respond to others, and remain humble before God. When we can't accept a sin, that sin owns us.
When we stop making excuses or attaching denial, we can face our hurt and begin the progression of forgiveness. We cannot position ourselves to judge those who have humiliated us. Nor can we speak forgiveness with our tongues while mentally hoping for the worst. The more in-depth the damage, the more essential the forgiveness process becomes.
Ephesians 4:31 says, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." Failure to face our hurt will likely result in it resurfacing as anxiety or even depression. Regardless of what we survive, we can only find true freedom by giving everything to God. The best version of our story doesn't include revenge. The final component of the forgiveness process includes prayer. When we pray, we humble ourselves before God. How many of us have genuinely prayed for the person who painfully impacted our lives the most?
It may take time, but forgiving even the darkest, most painful areas of our lives frees us to experience the joy of life as God intended. Let's welcome this freedom by applying the process of forgiveness over the sequencing of sin. Walk in His peace and enjoy the life God has written for us.
Pastor Shannon
New Life Calvert