"Dealing with the Hurts"

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV).

I was able to get to my grandchildren’s soccer game today to watch them win! It was pretty exciting stuff for someone who loves both them and the game as much as I do. There were high fives and lots of celebration after the game. During the game there were some tense moments. One came when one of the other team’s players got hit with a hard kicked ball in the face. We were all very concerned, though it turned out that she was OK, at the moment it looked pretty bad.

As I drove back to work after the game I began to think about that experience. You know, some things are pretty much guaranteed in this life: you're going to have to pay taxes, you're going to die, and you're going to get hurt. At some point in your life someone is going to say something or do something that hurts you. It may be purposefully or coincidentally, but it will hurt. The true secret to the Christian life is learning to deal with the hurts.

I heard a story of two sisters who were angry with each other for over 30 years. They wouldn’t talk to one another; in fact, they wouldn't even share the same space with each other. Living in the same house, they had painted a line down the middle of the house! Ridiculous as it sounds, we do that all of the time. When someone hurts us, we paint an invisible line around that hurt. And in time, if we don't take care of it, that invisible line of hurt becomes a wall of bitterness.

Bitterness robs us of so much: pleasure, health, joy, blessings, and much more. A heart that is bitter has a void; where bitterness lives, peace and love escape. Just like the little girl in the soccer game, when we get hurt physically, we immediately try to cure it by going to the people we know can make it better. The referee blew the whistle, play stopped, and her mom and dad came running to her on the field. That’s how it should be. Soon she was ready to continue playing as if nothing had happened! That’s what we should do when we are hurt in our emotional lives as well. Stop for a moment and look for your heavenly Father. He’s not far away. Go to Him and soon you’ll find the strength to keep playing!

Unfortunately, many people leave their hurts open, or try to cover them by fake smiles, by finding artificial means to treat it, or cure it. The emotional wounds remain there, get worse, untreated and even become infectious. A single emotional hurt left unattended can depress a person completely. If you have any old emotional wound somewhere hidden, deal with it now. Do not hide it. Take it to Jesus. He has proven He is willing to bear all of your hurts by His death on the cross. He won’t let you down!