Below is a summary of the week and some questions to ask in your Tribe. Feel free to use any of the resources at the bottom too! The idea is that we are growing in our connection with God.
Hello, it's great to see you!
This week we continues our series "Glow in the Dark" and focussed on Protecting the "Glow." Once our lives start “Glowing” with God’s goodness we must protect our GLOW by guarding our hearts from bitterness and unforgiveness. Step three to “Glowing” is “Forgiving”.
Sometimes we are going through life and meet people that just seem to have a natural "glow" where they are just radiating when they walk into a room and everyone around can feel it. Typically, that "glow" is positive. We want to protect that kind of "glow" in ourselves. To protect the "glow" we must guard it by forgiving those who forge bitterness inside of us. We have to let go of that bitterness to keep our "glow" "Glowing."
KEY SCRIPTURE
KEY POINTS
Forgiveness guards the "Glow" because:
1. Keeping Score Removes Gratitude by Poisoning our Attitude (Hebrews 12:14-15)
When we keep score of all the things we've done for others vs. what others have done for us, it lessens the gratitude we are given and the gratitude that we give out. Thankfulness becomes tainted and people harbor feelings of resentment towards one another. We should be serving others out of the goodness of our hearts as Jesus did for us, instead of thinking others owe us, or we owe them.
2. Keeping Score Produces Ever-Increasing Emotional Baggage (Hebrews 12:14-15)
Through bitterness, the weight of unforgiveness keeps getting heavier. Unforgiveness leads to resentment, anxiety, nightmares, negativity and unfairness, all things that become extremely heavy for someone to shoulder alone. Forgiveness decreases that weight and eventually gets rid of it altogether.
Choices that Lead to Forgiveness to "Guard the Glow:"
1. Keep Track without Keeping Score
By definition, "keeping score" means being in competition with others. People keep score to keep track of who is the winner and who is the loser. Keeping score is appropriate for games but not for relationships. Keeping track is about my behavior. Keeping score is about yours. Keeping track is about the management of my life, and making certain that I do the right things for the right reasons.
2. Live to Forgive
In Matthew 6:7-13 Jesus teaches us how to pray with the Lord's Prayer. What stands out is that after Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, he also taught us to forgive, meanin that part of the bread God gives us is the grace to forgive others. Then he challenges us to pray that we would not be led into temptation. Unforgiveness is a temptation all of us can get drawn into.
3. Practice the Platinum Rule
John Maxwell writes, "No doubt you’re familiar with the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. But did you know there is such a thing as the Platinum Rule? That says we should treat others better than they treat us. This is the essence of not keeping score. Really, it’s the essence of high-road leadership. It means not keeping a record of wrongs done to us, retaliating, or holding grudges. It means being kind to others, even if they are unkind or indifferent to us."
4. Pray for Offenders
Practically, praying for enemies is a way of surrendering our demand for immediate justice and entrusting wrongs to God’s righteous sovereignty, which preserves our soul’s health and keeps us from becoming like the very violence or bitterness we oppose.
5. Believe and Live like God has More for You than Others can take from You
Living with an abundance mentality begins with a spiritual and psychological reorientation: you believe God is ultimately generous, that life’s resources are not meant to be hoarded but stewarded, and that your identity and security are found in Christ rather than in things. An abundance mindset refuses the lie that there’s never “enough” and resists fear-based hoarding; instead it trusts God’s provision, cultivates gratitude for what is already given, and treats resources as tools for blessing others.
To "Grow in the Glow" we need to grow in applying God's word in our lives. We need to live out our faith, not just read it. Unforgiveness dims your light and causes you to walk in darkness emotionally and relationally.
If you haven't yet watched the sermon from this past weekend, we encourage you to check it out. The current sermon video will be available this Tuesday. Click on the link below to view:
Recent TVC Sermon Video
1. Who is it in your life that you continually have a hard time forgiving?
2. Do you hold bitterness and/or resentment for them? Are you willing to give thoset things to God this week?
3. How can your Tribe support you this week?