Session 11

What happens when we stop fighting back

From Preparing Your Heart to Lead: A 28-Day Devotional

We all bump into each other in life. Others’ actions disrupt our plans, shake our resolve, or send our days in a direction we didn’t expect. Sometimes, the bump comes in the grocery store check-out line when the person ahead of us has a full cart and a coupon for each item.  Sometimes, the bump is a near miss on the highway when someone cuts us off during rush hour.

Sin and selfishness are often our default response to the bumps in life. Our own rough edges, caused by our sinful nature, makes those bumps extra painful, scarring to those we bump into. But Jesus has a better way.

When God saves us, He has a plan in mind that will be for our good, His glory, and for reaching others who need Him. God’s plan will involve us turning from the common ways in which everyone else in the world handles things, and pursuing God’s ways of righteousness, love, and peace with others. God wants to cleanse us of our sinfulness so we can be used for His special purpose (2 Timothy 2:21).

Being argumentative has no place among God’s people; kindness to everyone is His way (2 Timothy 2:24). It isn’t easy to walk away from someone who has bumped into us. Hurting back with our own barbs is the natural response. But God wants to use us to do the supernatural. Only His love flowing through us can stop the common response of returning a wrong for wrong.

When we react differently from the normal rough and punishing ways of the world, people get a glimpse of Jesus. By surrendering our ways to God, we become a soft place to land for those hurting from the world’s bumps and bruises.

Reflect:

• Is there a rough area in your life that needs to be sanded off by God?
• What’s one step you could take this week to respond more like Jesus?
• Changes in behavior start with a change of heart. Is there a verse or promise in the Bible that relates to the rough area you’re hoping to change? Try keeping that verse on your phone and repeating it yourself when you feel your old ways creeping back in.