Our Resolute Hope Podcast

Try as we might, we can’t ignore our wounds or stuff the anger that results.  This will drag us down or erupt and wound others – often those we love most.

Feeling angry after an offense is healthy, but rage and revenge are sin.  These might feel good for a while, but they can become roots of bitterness that defile many.

Feeling anger is a healthy response when others wound us.  It’s a crucial first step on the road to forgiving our offender … so we can experience our freedom.

God didn’t wait to forgive us until we apologized.  He forgave us while we were His enemies, reconciling Himself to us and inviting us to reconcile ourselves to Him.

Scripture commands us to forgive others just as God has forgiven us.  We must understand how He did this if we are to forgive in the very same way.

Some verses seem to show forgiveness as conditional, but the New Covenant teaches us otherwise.  In Christ, God forgave us unconditionally, and we are to do the same for others.

Forgiving those who wound us can feel like the hardest thing ever.  But doing so frees us from what others have done to us … and what we’ve done to ourselves.

God can be silent when we suffer.  We pray for understanding, but our words seem to go nowhere.  At these times, God offers us Himself, so we can see Him as we never have and receive the blessings we didn’t even know we needed.

Job’s friends teach us to be compassionate when others suffer.  They were purposeful in their actions, meeting Job where he was and suffering with him.  They gave the gift of silent presence, allowing Job time to recover emotionally.

Watching someone suffer can be painful, moving us to desire relief at any cost.  But Jesus’ words, “Shall I not drink of the cup the Father has given Me?”, call us to view suffering through a different lens.