As I begin my fourth year of leading men to learn how to identify and grieve past pains, I was asked this week if the group really mattered because “after all people eventually leave you and in reality we are all alone in this world.”
It is interesting to me how we learn about our world and how people behave. What we learn certainly affects what we believe and how we act! The truth is we believe what we have been taught and we cannot change the way we act until we change what we believe.
My friend Jack Larson reminds me that if we have a proper understanding of our self, our purpose and our world that we can achieve far more than we can even imagine.
In his book “How Emotional Problems Develop” Jack reminds us:
God has put in all of us a sense, an inward feeling, that we were created for something better, greater and grander than we now experience. He has “set eternity in the hearts of all men.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) We sense this because it is true. We were created for something better. God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26,27), and created us a little lower than Himself and crowned us with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).
But we also know that our lives fall short of this glory and honor, and we long for something better. Of course, we will experience the completion of what we were created to be only in eternity. But we can also receive more fulfillment in this life. Jesus calls this fulfilled life, the abundant life (John 10:10). To experience this fuller, better life we must become disciples of Christ. We must set our hearts to follow Him fully and to put off the things that trap and entangle us in this world.
Emotional problems cause us to believe things about ourselves that are just not true. The key to moving past those “hindrances” is to first learn more about where and how they originate.
Worldwide Discipleship Association, Inc is offering readers a free E-Book copy of Jack’s book, “How Emotional Problems Develop.” In it you will learn how our past creates our view (clear or distorted) about the world in which we live. You will also learn how to begin to shed untruths and a process that can lead to emotional healing. I would love to hear your comments about the book. If you would like to hear more about WDA’s Restorative Ministry visit us at: http://www.disciplebuilding.org/ministries/restorative-ministry/
The truth is, not all people leave, and we are not in the world all alone. However, until my new friend learns the truth he will always react from a position of abandonment. Learning from, and moving beyond, our past is something we can all benefit from. I am working on my issues! I invite you to begin as well.