Today you get a twofer! Both Jerry, my husband (as you know), and I wrote about similar things in our journals, and we both thought it might be worth sharing with the world! 2 Corinthians 2:7,8 reads in THE MESSAGE, "Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love."
Several years ago a similar incident occurred in our old church. An unhappy wife encouraged a good friend's husband and the two ended up together with the other two people bereft. Those who knew both couples were scandalized. How could a thing like this happen? Now what do we do?
The guilty man was in a small group which customarily prayed for each other and held each other accountable. All good friends, they hurt for each person involved and prayed to know what best to do. After their soul searching, they forgave their group member and held him close. Their group never stopped praying for all involved in the situation and for one another.
This was hard for us, my husband and I, but we came to learn that not forgiving two didn't help the two who had been hurt by their mates. Paul, in the above verse, is right. Hard as it may be, we must forgive the two who have fallen, even while we also must give love and understanding to those who remain the hurt spouses.
Only God's love can combat the pain to people who have been hurt by lack of faithfulness in marriage. We can only try. Sometimes our "help" only magnifies their pain.
Today, Jerry read 2 Cor.:17 which says: "We are not peddlers of God's word like so many imposters; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity sent from God and standing in his presence." Jerry felt that Paul is beseeching us to interact with others by coming from a position of love and sincerity. Our purpose is to build up the Body of Christ in which we are placed with Paul's kind of absolute love and sincerity.
Jerry and I are each grateful to God for this teaching and other things we learn every day. We pray that incidents of hurt will happen rarely, but in this world we do find these incidents. We both, together and separately, pray that God will direct us in all instances to His kind of love which includes forgiveness and that love will be wrapped in sincerity and understanding, and not rebuke.
This world is a glass house. Who would dare throw a stone?
With sincerity and love, Jo
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