Thursday - June 9, 2016

Woodlawn Family Bible Study

THURSDAY


BIBLE READING:  Luke 6:27-37

MAIN IDEA:                                  
“How Do We Forgive?”

DISCUSSION
Grievance is formed-A grievance forms when two things coincide: something happens in our lives that we didn’t want to happen; then we deal with this problem by thinking too much about it.  We give it too much space in our minds. Resentment begins when part of our life has turned out different than what we feel is the way it should be; someone or something has crossed a line /boundary we had set. (A lot times we are the only one that knows the boundary and we actually can’t control it being violated). Faced with this unexpected situation, we lack the skills to manage our feelings. Most people struggle to come to terms with the fact that life is not always fair.  A lot of people suffer needlessly because they have trouble accepting this as an unavoidable fact of life.  A lot of people want to cling to their initial reaction because they cannot understand that the specifics of what happened is less important than learning how to deal with their reaction to it. (Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it) Focusing too much attention on the hurt makes it stronger and forms a habit that can be difficult to break.  Dwelling on wounds gives them power and lets them control you. What we focus our thoughts on can be shifted.  We can change the channel, so to speak.  If we only watch the grievance channel then the world will appear to have many grievances, but if we switch to the forgiveness channel we get a different perspective of life.

APPLICATION
  • Do you let your mind dwell on your grievance many times during the day?
  • Do you get tired thinking of things from the past?
  • Do you need to forgive?

Prayer Requests

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