That’s not to say that God’s Judgement is only ever fluff-and-stuff, but that even harsh-SOUNDING words from God are ALWAYS rooted in love.
Many non-Christians AND CHRISTIANS don’t understand this—hating harshness OR hating harshly.
The key to knowing whether a word is truly from God isn’t in whether it’s fluffy or harsh, but whether it’s in-touch with God’s heart. · · · →
It’s often goes without notice, with any conflict, that people who refuse to forgive usually have good reasons. The offending party may be, in fact, hazardous. A friend once sat at mother’s kitchen table and explained that there is a difference between trust and forgiveness. When hurt, it’s easy to become drunk on anger. But, then we often attempt to sedate our anger-drunkenness through abused wife complexes and encourage the beating to continue. A mother can do this as a way to survive, even rebuking her children who try to stand up to the abusive father. Too often, this disaster is viewed as “forgiveness”. Letting a murderer walk, no matter how “sorry” he is, isn’t merely about our own feelings towards him. It’s about our need to protect other innocent people from future harm. Our own pain can easily lead to narcissism and we no longer consider needs of others. We easily think that, in order to “forgive”, other innocent people must be put at risk. · · · →
