Watch Out!

Hebrews 12:¹⁵ “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”

We have to pay attention to the pain people have caused us and deal with it properly. The nature of pain is that pain insists on being attended to. People don’t see good when it comes, because they are consumed with pain, hurt, and focused on people. When God sends help, when God Himself comes people don’t see the grace that is everywhere because they are pained. Pain always demands attention. I pray that God will heal your heart, heal every pain and every hurt in the Name of Jesus. C.S Lewis says, “We can ignore even pleasure, but we must attend to pain.” The challenge is that most people don’t know how to attend to pain. Most people lick their wounds, throw a pity party, and stay in their misery corner attending to pain.

That is not how to attend to pain. It is true that you can’t ignore it because hurt releases pain. So, how should you attend to pain? The first thing you must do is acknowledge it. Acknowledge the pain and the hurt. But you must not sit and stew in it. You must forgive. Forgiveness is the name of the game. The ship is built for water. If you see a ship on the road, you will conclude that something is wrong with whoever dragged it there. The ship is built for water. The closer it gets to the shore; it has to be anchored and still be floating in water. The ship is built for water, yet the very thing that sinks the ship is water, water in the wrong places.

It is when too much water gets into the ship that the ship sinks. So, keep the water out. Do not let the mess get inside you. Someone says and I agree, he says, “People don’t die from snake bites… it is the venom that kills.” When people are bitten by non-venomous snakes, they don’t die. Snake bites don’t kill; it is the venom that kills. How does this apply to us? You cannot control what people do to you (the bite), but you can control what it does in you (the venom). You can refuse the venom, you can. You can purge yourself. Yes, I understand that it is really painful, sorry. But do not let the venom in. Don’t let the water get into your ship.

John 5:^8-9 “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”  Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!” (emphasis added). Jesus gave him three instructions – stand up, pick up your mat, and walk. Jesus could have said stand up and walk. Jesus didn’t have to include pick up your mat. In other instances where Jesus healed people, He would simply say open your eyes you are healed, get up and walk. But in this case, He included roll up your mat. Why? We will get into the implications tomorrow.

Prayer: Father, help me guard my heart above all else, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!