Spoiler For Bethany Covenant Church Members

We are doing a series on "Life Verses," and congregants are encouraged to share which verses of Scripture have been durably valuable or inspiring over their lifetimes. The pastors' stories, and some of the congregation, will be showing up in the services over the next month. I volunteered instantly, of course.  I am a Mouth in the Body of Christ. We were supposed to keep our presentation under 90 seconds on video.  Contrary to my reputation, I think I am the only one who has come in under that number so far.  The following is punctuated for vocal expression, not reading.

One life verse for me is Genesis 50:20, where Joseph says to his brothers “You meant it for evil... but God turned it into good.” This has been freeing.

I am a person who holds grudges – of my several faults it may be my worst. When I am reminded of a person or a situation, I restart old conversations. I try to explain to the person What. She. Did. Was. Wrong, or speak to some imagined tribunal: how it was that he hurt me.

Or,  I go the other way and think that evil is too strong a word. I make excuses for them. “Well, she was doing the best she could... she was under a lot of stress at the time.”

The scripture cuts through that and tells us “No, it was wrong, it was evil, even if it was small.” I may never get any resolution. Yet there is no need to keep making excuses for them either. Only when I let go of both can I forgive and go forward, and see how God has turned it into good. Before that, I’m not forgiving, I’m falsely pretending it didn’t really matter.