Bondage Hurts | The Worshipper's Thought of the Day

Some of the greatest lessons learned as part of our human experience are those that generate a memorable degree of hurt or disappointment.  These experiences leave indelible inscriptions upon the pages of our hearts and are often defining moments in the shaping of our own unique behavioral characteristics.  Sometimes it's our fault; other times it's not at all.  But regardless of who's to blame, hurt is hurt when it comes to our interpersonal dealings with others--especially those we love.  My heart really goes out to those who are just givers by nature.  They unselfishly put others before themselves and will give their very last to help someone else, never really asking for anything in return.  Their kindness is usually taken for weakness, and their concern is often times mistaken for a hidden agenda.  And no matter how strong we say we are, people can only hurt so much at the hands of others for so long before they begin to feel like they don't need anyone in their lives and would just rather be alone.

If the truth be told, GOD created us to be social beings.  So a life of solitude is certainly not the answer to the dilemma we face.  As a matter of fact, GOD's work IN our lives is accomplished via Him working THROUGH the lives of others.  So people are very important to even our own lives experiencing the blessings of GOD.  But in order to fully understand what I am leading up to, don't just limit GOD's blessings to money or material possessions.  Expand your view of blessing beyond the tangible to include intangibles like favor, fellowship and friendship.  That certainly changes everything about how we comprehend our hurts, doesn't it?  And although we may hate to admit it, especially in times of disappointment with people, we require each other's presence in our lives to fulfill GOD's purpose for our lives.  But here is where I find we fail so miserably, me included: when GOD blesses us (tangibly or intangibly) through others, we allow our emotions to get attached to the person He used instead of Him.

Understand that GOD allows us to be part of each other's lives but not TO BE each other's lives.  Our lives are His because they're hidden with Christ in GOD (Colossians 3:3).  They're not ours to give to anyone because He redeemed them (Galatians 4:4-5).  Yet what do we do?  We hand our lives over to people when we allow our emotions to have rule over our decisionmaking capacities.  THAT'S how we end up hurt, folks.  We shift our emotional attachment from GOD to people, disconnecting ourselves from the emotional stability of GOD and connecting to the emotional instability of other people.  We shift from a healthy perspective of freedom and liberty in the Holy Ghost to an unhealthy perspective that resurrects old feelings, vulnerabilities, insecurities, cravings and mindsets.  Furthermore, we open the door for the emergence of new battles from among the shadows of our unfulfilled lusts.  Ultimately, choosing what FEELS GOOD over what we KNOW TO BE GOOD only leads us back to the place of bondage from which GOD delivered us (Galatians 4:8-9).