Give it to God

One of the sad and unfortunate facts of life is that human beings hurt one another. Another fact is that preachers will not be exempt from being hurt by others. It could be a church leader, another preacher, a member of our church family, a family member, or a close friend, but brothers, we will be hurt if we are in ministry. 

When someone hurts us, much of the time, it is because they are hurting in some way. It has been said, and it is more often than not a true statement, “Hurt people, hurt people.” It will help us if we can look past our anger and our hurt to try to find the pain that may have caused someone to hurt us, as difficult as it may be.  

There are perhaps many ways to deal with pain caused by others, but the very best way to handle hurt is by following the example of our Lord. Listen to the words of Peter, “For you have been called for this purpose, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you would follow in His steps,  He who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being abusively insulted, He did not insult in return; while suffering, He did not threaten, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21-23) When our Savior was reviled, rejected, and hurt, He turned Himself as well as the pain He endured over to the Father.  

Dear Father, Help us to treat others as Jesus treats us. Help us not to retaliate when someone has hurt us. Instead, help us turn our hurts over to You, the only one who can free us from pain. In the Name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.