Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a suggestion. Some people will love you. Some people will hate you. Words will lift you up. Words will tear you down. Does it matter what someone else thinks of you if you don’t think highly of yourself? Through the anger, what are you trying to make up for? What are you trying to prove? Why are you always in constant competition instead of supporting one another – especially when someone is doing better than you are?
How can you expect someone to love you, be a friend to you, even want to be around you if you don’t love yourself, act like a friend, or like someone others want to be around? Do you want to be around the constantly negative person? No, of course not. Do you want to be around people who don’t act like your friend but then want you to do something for them? Of course not. Do you honestly expect someone to love you if you don’t love yourself? Self esteem is a huge problem I have seen in many teenagers – but almost more in adults. We factor in what everyone else thinks WAY TOO MUCH. If you are happy with yourself and you are within the guide lines that God gives us to live then everyone else just needs to loosen up. For the person who is always negative, God says,
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)”.
This means that everything you speak has an affect on the subject you speak it on or the person you speak it to (which completely relates to “How Much Does Your Decision Weigh”).
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
This means you are not really wrestling with a certain person or group but instead you are battling the actions. If a family member hurts you, they are still blood. Are you really going to just write them off? I certainly hope not. You are wrestling with the anger towards the action causing you to be hurt. Then comes the command to forgive and love. It’s hard to do when you feel hurt. (For reference, see Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you”, Colossians 3:13 – “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”) God commands us to not only love our neighbor as ourselves but to love UNCONDITIONALLY. This means to love no matter what!
Summed up? If you forgive like God says to, then you can still love your neighbor no matter what they have done to you. If you are harboring bitterness this means you haven’t given forgiveness. That’s not good news for you.
What does God say about this? If you don’t forgive others — How can He forgive you??….
Mark 11:25 – And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Confession Letters 