How do we love people who have hurt us in some way?  I think many of us have asked this question at some point in our Christian journey. I know it was one of the first questions I asked the Lord as I began to walk with Him.  I admit I know the temptation to hold bitterness in my heart towards someone. Cruel words have wounded me so deeply that even the sight mentioned of the person’s name could make the veins in my neck tighten. Nurturing the offence was grieving the Holy Spirit and hardening my heart and until it was given over to God, I would live in the torment of it. Choosing obedience instead of rebellion was the only way.

Seeing clearly my limited ability to love someone who had hurt me, I had to come to terms with my own brokenness. Praying for humility and the strength to enable me to bear the weight of this reality that my pride did not want to acknowledge was the first step forward.  Let me stress that If I had looked to myself for the power to love someone who had hurt me, I would not have been able to. For it is for this reason that Christ came to die for our sin and rise in victory and through Him and His victory I am able to die to sin and rise to live for Him. Admitting that I needed help to love the way Christ calls His followers to was essential so that He could empower me with His Holy Spirit to love. For the power of this love does not originate within human hearts but within Christ. For He laid down His life so we may live.  The Spirit prompted me with “Why do you call me Lord, and do not do the things I say?” I answered with “yes, Lord”. I needed to lay down my life in response to Jesus and choose the way of love. There with Him in the secret place of prayer, I would lay my wounded heart out in safety and cry out for Him to help me love as He loves. As He said for if you love those who love you what credit is that to you for sinners love those who love them… but love give and expect nothing in return. Luke 6

 I surrendered my strong will and the desire to get even, which was not easy. I prayed that Jesus would love the person who hurt me through me and that I could love them and expect nothing in return. Then, I prayed and asked for the Holy Spirit to strengthen me so that I could keep my eyes on Him and to help me identify with what He had done for me more than what they had done to me.  As I continually collaborated with Holy Spirit, overtime Jesus began to change the way I viewed the situation and the person. The Holy Spirit gave me the strength to set my will to focus on Jesus and not relish in replaying the incident. Gentle prompts to think on what Jesus had done for me were shaping my steps. His creative vision was impacting how I was seeing them and the situation. I began to see beyond the harmful actions. My heart began to soften, and I began to see who they could become in Christ. Through the power of the Holy Spirit bitterness was losing hold as compassion was coming forth. I discovered that my wounded heart was being healed by the One who was wounded for me.  As I was learning to walk with Him and live in greater trust and dependence upon Him, He was changing me. He loved them through me. I saw the importance of accepting my fragileness and not running from Him but to Him.   In turn, He was imparting a greater love for Him, others, and the one who had hurt me.

What started out as hurt from someone became an opportunity for me to grow in dependence on Jesus and develop a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.  By being as honest and as vulnerable as I could be with God, my sensitive nature was being aligned correctly to be more aware of what Jesus had done for me than what they had done to me. And now joy fills the place where bitterness once resided.

Who is the Lord calling you to love?