2 Timothy 2:24

I was doing some translation from Greek the other day in 2 Timothy and I cannot get this verse out of my mind.

A slave of the Lord must not fight, but be gentle to all, teaching well, handling evil well, and in humility teaching those who oppose him. (interpretive translation)

The New American Standard Bible puts it this way: The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.

Either way you put it, it is difficult to acquiesce to, especially in light of all of the times we are hurt by people. The wounds we've experienced in the past have a way of heavily informing our interactions with potential wounds in the present. They seem to tell us from the past "Be careful...you remember this feeling...it's not good...don't get hurt again."

With some of my friends, we've been studying our typical responses to hurt. One can be called apathy or isolation/insulation. I'm pretty good at this one - drawing back, pouting, isolating yourself. This is a defense mechanism that helps us not get hurt again.

The other most common response is anger. Some of us tend to say, "You put out my eye, I'll now put out both of yours." We don't get overly upset...we just get even. This involves all kinds of manifestations of anger. This too is a way of handling hurt and making sure we don't suffer alone.

But in our study, discussion, and time in the Scriptures, we've discovered there is another way out. A third way. It involves taking the hurt, whatever it is, to God and having Him deal with it. That may sound trite, and it can be, but it is the Biblical approach to hurt. Cutting the connection between the hurt and our IDENTITY is important as we take it to God and have Him heal and interpret it for us, to us, in us. This allows us to see the wound more clearly, respond (which we inevitably must do) with compassion and sincerity instead of anger or isolation. Then resolution comes, restoration comes, and wounds can actually be a means of fostering deeper relationships. Only God can do that. Only he can turn a funeral into a party.