I go to a really good church, Calvary Chapel of Austin, and our pastor, Allen Rigg, always does a killer job delivering one good sermon after another. Yesterday he talked about "being an ornament" with our lives, while studying the life of Rahab, the prostitute. Hers was a life that showed in a powerful way how we can be free from our past and not be defined by it.
He mentioned a few things that stuck out. One of which is how he empathized with some present who would "soon spend significant time with someone who hurt you." Some have painful memories and relationships with their family members, who they might see around this holiday season. Instead of joy, they might feel pain. He encouraged those present who might feel that way to basically let it go. He brought up a calendar and asked, "Are you going to let it go next year? Christmas 2010? Christmas 2020? Sometimes we hold on to things, which defines us in a negative way.
"Allowing guilt or hurt from the past to rule your life ... is crazy!"
"Guilt says, 'IOU.'
Hurt says, 'You owe me.'
"It takes two to reconcile,
but it only takes one to forgive."
Wow!
That is so true ... and it's a key to freedom. Holding on to the hurt that someone brought us just eats at us. Forgiving them doesn't mean they didn't hurt you; and it doesn't mean that perhaps a significant act on their part needs to happen in order to reconcile, but the part that you have control over and the freedom step that you can take is to forgive. I love that.
Rahab let go of the past by letting go of the hurt inflicted by her family, which she rescued. Allen pointed out that a woman of that time who wasn't married (either by being a widow or divorcee or just never getting hitched) was pretty much at wit's end just to survive. Some women turned to prostitution simply as a means to survive. This meant that perhaps Rahab had a family that scorned her choices and who weren't willing to take care of her - possibly helping force her into a degrading vocation like prostitution. Yet she made a point to not only get herself rescued by the Israeli spies, but also her family.
Another funny image that Allen brought up is how bitterness and holding onto hurt sometimes prods us to treat others harshly, sucking the life out of them, like making a grape into a raisin.
Ramblings:
Yesterday I "accomplished" something I didn't think possible - I won the first round of my Fantasy Football league playoff. My opponent had Eli Manning at QB (while I have David Gerrard). The "guru's" picked me to lose, as his players were set to do better. Turns out I slaughtered the guy by 40 points. Very nice. If I can win next week, I'll be the champ, and I'll be beside myself, not knowing what to do. Maybe a ride on my donkey will be an appropriate way to celebrate.
Listening to Fiction Family, which is a new side project (how many does this guy have?) of Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins. As expected, it's full of really good melodic songs with well crafted lyrics. That Foreman guy is definitely walking in his gift as a songwriter.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at December 15, 2008 10:37 AM