Phil Inglis - August 11, 2019
Forgive
I recently read the story of Pascale Kavanagh. Pascale suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her mother. After leaving home she never thought she would ever reconnect with her mother and she never wanted to. However in 2010 her mother suffered several strokes that left her unable to communicate or take care of herself. Since there was no one else, Pascale somehow found it in herself to sit at her mother’s bedside reading to her. As she sat there, reading to her mother, Pascale slowly began to discover, with amazement, that the resentment she had lived with for so long gradually dissolved into forgiveness and love. This story is notable because it’s unusual isn’t it? In many people’s lives the terrible abuses, rejections and humiliations sit, grow and fester into resentment and anger that is never dealt with, never forgiven. The problem is that this resentment often drives unhealthy, self-destructive behaviour. There’s an old proverb that says “Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” But how? How do we forgive? How do we process the hurt, anger and humiliation so that it doesn’t continue to impact us and ruin our lives? In 2 Samuel 13 we read about, Absalom who was a prince of Israel. His inability to forgive, and a perverse drive for revenge, turned him into the very thing he hated. His life spiralled out of control until it collapsed in on itself. Join us as we learn about how to forgive by observing Absolom’s decomposing life and considering how we may be able to avoid the same poison in our own lives.
Scripture References: 2 Samuel 13:1-39
From Series: "Indispensable"
Seven pieces of indispensable wisdom from the bible.
