Have you experienced this in your life? When people hurt you it is such a difficult thing to go through. People hurt us for different reasons. It’s impossible to work out why people do what they do. One thing I have seen for certain is this: Hurting people, hurt people.
The truth is that we have all been hurt by people. Not only that, we have all hurt people too. I don’t think that any of us wake up in the morning and say, “I know what I’m going to do today. I’m going to hurt my friend (or family member).” None of us deliberately set out to hurt people. It’s just one of those things that happen as part of life.
So what must we do when people hurt us?
Don’t let it get in you
When people hurt us, we take it personally. We let it creep into our hearts and it affects our thinking, our moods and our speech. Of course, there is nothing easy about not letting it get in you. But we must work hard to not let it get in our hearts. Otherwise, the negative words that have spoken to us will replay in our minds like a stuck record. The mistrust and betrayal will taint all our other relationships. The hurt will cover us like a blanket and rob us of the great moments all around us.
Choose what you will do
Regardless of how the hurt has affected us, there is something we all can do. We can choose. You can choose to not accept what people are trying to put on us. We can choose how we will react and respond. And we can choose to fire the most powerful weapon at our disposal; LOVE.
Jesus lays out this challenge in the Bible. Here’s an excerpt from what He said from the book of Matthew, “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.”
When people hurt us, let’s choose to pray for them and not let the hurt get in us. Be kind, knowing that you are loved by God and He is with you to help you navigate every season of the soul.
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