Past Hurts

Past Hurts

 

 Allowing emotions associated with our past hurts to negatively influence our lives can lead to a variety of unhealthy behaviors and thoughts that can prevent us from trusting the Word of God in the now. Living in the shadows of past hurts can cause us to react in the present to something that happened in the past. James 1:8 states that, “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways,” and St. Mathew 9:17, warns us against “putting new wine in old wineskins.” When we try to cover up our hurts as opposed to allowing God to heal them, we are not free. When we are trying to cover up our feelings and hurts using man-made defenses, we are in a sense attempting to place new wine in old wineskins. But God does not want us to go through life nursing old hurts, or reacting in the present to something that happened in the past. While man-made defenses may seem to protect us from the negative feelings we are trying to avoid, they often come with unexpected consequences.

For instance, in order to shield ourselves from the hurts of our past we may find ourselves withdrawing from people, masking our feelings with alcohol, getting into abusive relationships, and or allowing feelings of rejection to control our lives. Additionally, unhealed past hurts can cause us to be oversensitive in certain areas of our lives, and to misinterpret or to react inappropriately to things and people around us. When we internalize the hurts of the past we can spend the rest our lives allowing past hurts to control our present, and cause us to reject people who want to love us.

For example, if someone that reminded you of someone who hurt you many years ago said something that you did not like, are you able to separate that person from the person who hurt you in the past? If not, you run the risk of not being able to develop the type of relationship that Jesus Christ would desire for you to have with that person. Lastly, do you go through life feeling as if people are always out to get you? Are you able to have friends or people around you who disagree with you, without feeling as if you have to prove your point or to be right? Do you find yourself always overreacting or snapping at people for no reason? Please understand that we can’t go through life being negatively controlled by past hurts, and expect to be greatly used by God. We can’t serve God effectively if we are always thinking that people are out to hurt us, or are reacting in the present to something that happened in the past (Hunt, 1999). Don’t let past hurts control your perceptions of the present, and destroy the good things that God has in store for you. 

 

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