I saw a post on X yesterday from an author I met years ago. She posted something to the effect of, “There’s no hurt like church hurt.” I started reading through the replies as people shared their church hurt stories. I started thinking about my own story, but that’s when it hit me that I had forgiven and let go of mine. There are people who hold onto that hurt for the rest of their lives. The people we love have the ability to hurt us the most. We forget that the people in the church are people, and people are imperfect. They are also brothers and sisters in Christ making them our spiritual family. While we sit in our pain waiting for them to come to us, we forget that Jesus said if someone offends us, we are to go to them. We also forget that we must forgive in order to be forgiven. These are two very difficult things, but not impossible.
In Genesis, we read the story of a young man named Joseph who had eleven brothers. Out of All the kids, he was the favorite and treated as such. After his dreams of being in charge of the family, his brothers hatched a plan to pay him back. They threw him in a pit, stole his coat and sold him into slavery. After nearly 25 years of slavery and prison, he was released and made second in command of one of the greatest civilizations in history. He was distributing food during the famine when he saw his brothers come in needing food. After he revealed himself, his brothers were scared of payback. Sensing their fear in Genesis 45:5 he said, “But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives” (NLT). He had chosen forgiveness and had seen God used his hurt to place him where he could fulfill God’s ultimate plan.
Colossians 3:13 says, “Tolerate the weaknesses of those in the family of faith, forgiving one another in the same way you have been graciously forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you find fault with someone, release this same gift of forgiveness to them” (TPT). Paul knew what it was like to be church hurt and he had seen it happen to others. He gave us this reminder that we must remember they’re human too and that we to must put on the robe of forgiveness and release it. Holding on to past pain holds us in a prison like Joseph was in. It’s when we release it that he can restore us to positions where we can make a difference. Remember that forgiveness doesn’t always require reconciliation. It means you choose to let go and trust God who will use our situation to bring healing to others.
Photo by John Cafazza on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 