At Seacoast west campus they wrapped up the mini series on Picture Perfect. The series spoke about our lives and our families and how they are not always picture perfect. No matter how good the portraits might be on the surface there is always some brokeness that is brought about by either a family member or members or external circumstances. Every family experiences some sort of brokeness and how we handle that brokeness will determine how quickly restoration and healing takes place. The pastor this morning gave some very simple guidelines for breaking the crazy cycle.
How to respond to brokeness from 1 Peter 3:8-12
A. Treat others better than myself
1. When we are hurt we tend to respond with a victim mentality. I am hurt therefore I will hurt back.
B. Break the cycle of craziness
1. Serve unconditionally, be nice to those who are mean or harmful towards you.
2. Do not repay evil with evil even if it is in our nature.
C. Seek and pursue peace
1. We need to do whatever it takes to reconcile the relationship and pursue a peaceful restoration.
2. We need to learn how to forgive others and release the bitterness, anger and hurt within us
3. Unforgiveness only hurts us, not the person we are angry with
4. If the other person is not willing to do the right thing then we can chose to be the one to do right
5. If God is bigger than my problems and can forgive me then I can forgive others as well.
I think that this message speaks to all of us. We all have been hurt and we have all been the victim at one time or the other. Today is the day to release that pain and anger and bitterness to the one who is able to handle it for us. God is bigger than all of our burdens and if we will only trust him with those problems he will help us to handle them.
Does this mean that we are supposed to be door mats and allow people to run all over us? No, of course not. People need to own their junk and take responsibility for it. If we approach people with the spirit of love, humility and kindness and work with them we can help them to see how they have contributed to the pain and hopefully restore that relationship. If they refuse to own their junk and do not want to do the right thing then you have done your part and that is all God is concerned with. Sometime healing and restoration is not instananeous and it may take some time, prayer and work. There are resources out there to help folks with these types of issues and most of the time you can find it at your local church or community counseling centers.
Our families may not ever be "picture perfect" but with some help from God working through each of us we can learn how to love and enjoy one another and do better with how we treat one another.
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