Grace-Filled Wisdom for Church Leaders Navigating LGBTQ+ Realities Part 4

Matthew 13:54, "Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. 'Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked."  

"First, we note the general view that wisdom is a body of knowledge—that is, a tradition that sets forth an understanding of God, the world and nature, humanity and human society. Second, wisdom is understood as discipline—that is, both a curriculum of study and a structured form of behavior designed to lead to the formation of character. . . . Long life, prosperity and joy became the possession of the one who was wise." [1] 

Forgive

Our journeys include a long stop to ponder our own sin and a second stop to remember how others have sinned against us. You may have been the object of sexual slurs or, worse, been abused.

Sexual intimidation and all kinds of unwanted sexual behavior can have lasting effects. When the “Me Too” movement on social media was everywhere in the fall of 2017, my wife looked at me and said, “You too.” At first, I had no idea what she was thinking until she reminded me of a summer in high school when a girl tried to seduce me, including taking off her shirt. I had not even recognized that I, too, had faced sexual aggression, although my situation involved no power differential or violence.

Depending on what has been done to you, you may have much harder forgiveness work to do. Forgive your abuser or a family member, or even forgive someone for what they did to your spouse or your child. As hard as this forgiveness work may be, it is crucial to your ministry because bitterness will block the power of the Spirit as you try to help others spiritually. I know this from painful personal experience.

When I first found out, I wanted him to go to hell. Early in our marriage, problems in our sexual intimacy took us to counseling, where we discovered my wife’s repressed memories of sexual abuse. I actually had thoughts of killing her abuser for wounding her so profoundly. It took me over a year to begin the process of forgiving him. Decades later, there has been much healing. I forgave the perpetrator, who has since passed away. To minister freely, I had to face what was done to the one I love the most and how it impacted us as a couple.

Pray for the grace to forgive as God has forgiven you in Christ, with free, undeserved forgiveness. This will set you free to minister to others with more power.

[1] Perdue, L. G. "Cult, Worship: Wisdom." Ed. Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings 2008: 79–80. Print.