On getting slapped upside the head for no good reason.

Last night a friend sent me an article written by Francis Frangipane. I found it timely and powerful. It talked about how to be like Jesus when you take a shot from someone, especially when you're trying to do what you think to be God's good pleasure.
Here's my reply to the friend:

Hi

I read and want to say thanks for the email & article.

One paragraph especially struck me:

"Yet, let us beware. We will either become Christlike and forgive the offenders or we will enter a spiritual time warp where we abide continually in the memory of our wounding. Like a systemic disease, the hurtful memories infect every aspect of our existence. In truth, apart from God, the wounding that life inflicts is incurable. God has decreed that only Christ in us can survive."

I think it struck me because I feel like I've been the recipient of a few people's "spiritual woundedness time warp stuckness" this fall, and I feel the temptation to swallow all that crap and enter that time warp myself.

Line from a Dylan song:
"I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry face.
and every time I pass that way I always hear my name."

Its funny. No matter how far down this road I go following Jesus, its still the same hills that are hardest to climb, and this one is called return good for evil.

Thanks again.
Grace and peace
Matt