Many people in the Bible learned lessons in not such pleasant ways. The consequences that bring us to “learn our lessons” are not always very pleasant. Jonah had to spend some time in the belly of the whale. Moses lost the privilege of entering the promised land himself. David suffered the death of several sons. Peter got called down by Paul rather publicly.
1. I fell for exactly what the email was speaking out against: Silencing those who outwardly disagree. I did this by stating I would never forward any email ever again, essentially silencing myself because of the criticism…. hmmm… maybe I will rethink that vow.2. We are all going to be offended and we will all offend others as long as we live on this planet because we are all sinners and we will all continue to sin inadvertently and even on purpose (but hopefully not as a habit) for the rest of our lives, whether we are followers of Christ or not.
3. I learned the saying of my good friend’s mom, “The donkeys will bray”. I have never heard that expression before. (This was not said in reference to me by the way… though I suppose it could be said of me quite often.)
4. This is not unlike another issue I have dealt with recently where instead of discussing the issues and finding out why the other person believes the way they do, they just ignore the opposition and tell them they are wrong without giving any supporting reasons as to why they believe their position to be true.
5. I need to stop causing myself stress. I have enough that other people have put on my plate to deal with.
6. I need to not let junk like this stress me out.
7. Reaffirmation that Jesus is the only one I need to please, and though I often commit offenses that are not pleasing to him, he still loves me unconditionally.
I have learned in the process and that is the most important thing of all.
