Binding and Loosing

I have found that when God is trying to teach/convict me of something He repetitively places the same words before me in many different formats, and He is at it again. This time God seems to be trying to teach me about the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. Last night at Reba the speaker, David, spoke about being subversive to the world's economy. He mentioned that to be a Christian means to be subversive. There are many examples of this in the Bible including in Jesus' own life through his offering of forgiveness to all. Forgiveness and reconciliation are not "normal" practices, but to be part of the body of Christ requires that we do those things. It is something that John Howard Yoder again talks about in his book Body Politics. He believes that the Body of Christ needs to be one of reconciliation and forgiveness without punishment. We can learn to resolve conflict, trust each other more, and allow the Holy Spirit to work by giving us love even for those who have offended us. Yoder sees conflict as human, but the way we handle it as representative of the gospel.

Recently a close friend and I had a falling out unlike anything I had ever gone through before. I never experienced the feeling of bitterness that rose up in my chest and the thoughts I carried in my mind all day. I kept trying to pray for the person so that I would again have feelings of love towards them, but it was to difficult on my own. Finally this morning we sat down together and shared our hurts, both asked for forgiveness, and forgave. The mutual forgiveness reconciled us and were once again able to express our love for each other. I had to directly implement the lesson that God has been teaching me the past three days. It has been hard, but I have experienced God working in my life in a new way.