How will I respond when I’m hurt next?

I’ve responded well to being hurt, and I’ve responded poorly; probably more the latter most lately. Indeed, I can remember being hurt more than most people could imagine but being healed in a miraculous way—15 or 16 years ago now. But it’s what I’ve experienced in the past 5-10 years, and my poor responses to hurt, that have shown me most about myself and have shone the light of opportunity into my struggle.

It’s true that we have our greatest opportunities to grow through the advent of pain. But we don’t always grow, and much of the time, if bitterness continues to grow, we can end up hard of heart.

We are told in the Bible to, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) All of life comes from the inner unction of the heart. When we get hurt—not if, because there will always be a when—we must either respond well through God’s grace or learn from the times we respond poorly.

There’s no shame in getting it wrong. There’s nothing to feel guilty about when we feel a failure to God. God knows each and every one of us and God accepts who we are—AS we are—as if we have no foibles or blemishes—because of Christ.

So, when it comes to being hurt, especially if we’re Christian by other Christians (who we believe should know or be doing better), we need to see ourselves confronted with a choice. It doesn’t matter whether it’s partly our fault or not, or whether none of its our fault, because when we respond poorly to being hurt, we become part of the extension of the problem, even if it’s only us and our remaining loved ones who must deal with it.

It leaves us with a question to ponder as we look behind us and agree again to let it go. As we continue our walk into the unknown and unknowable future, we can still say, “How will I respond to the next hurt?”

We need to be prepared for it.

In these ways, perhaps we’ll carry Proverbs 4:23 more intentionally in our hearts? How will we approach the reality of the fallibility and brokenness of sinners who will sin against us? How will we see our own weaknesses and brokenness? And, more importantly, how will we allow God to hold us to a short account?

Yes, perhaps a good question to go with, “How will I respond to the next hurt?” is “How will I respond when I hurt the next person?”

It’s good to ponder.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash