Podcast: "The Way" through The Sacred Gap (Part 6), Ep. 26

Healing our Relationship with God (Forgiving God)

The more we understand Jesus' invitation for the Kingdom life, the more compelling it is. Listen in as Tyler and Aric continue to explore Jesus' compelling vision for Kingdom life through his opening words of his Sermon on the Mount. As we discussed in our previous series, he offers a promise of healing and transformation that frees us from our shadow stories into lives lived more and more fully in the true story and the Kingdom realities that you are loved, you belong, you are chosen, and you have nothing to prove. The difference between those two realities is what we have called The Sacred Gap and once that gap becomes clear, so does an obvious question: "How do I get through that gap?" Well, it turns out there is an answer. The early Kingdom communities of Jesus' apprentices, not coincidentally, referred to themselves as practitioners of "The Way." What "Way" is that? It is "The Way" that Jesus himself taught in the greatest and most compelling sermon ever given.

In this podcast, we pick up where we left off last time with our discussion about Jesus' promise of satisfaction for all who crave right relationships (Matthew 5:6). It is a compelling promise but, not surprisingly, as the promises become more compelling, so too the road forward gets more difficult. This is a teaching that takes us to the inescapable need for forgiveness as "The Way" to restoring right relationships. Forgiveness may not be so difficult when the offenses are minor. But, as we began to explore in our last discussion, the deeper the offense or injustice, the more difficult forgiveness becomes. Which brings us toe to toe with the elephant in the room. What do we do when at the deepest levels of our strained relationships with each other is a strained and broken relationship with God himself? What do we do with those experiences that call into question and undermine our ability to trust God? What do we do with the things we aren't "supposed" to think and feel about him?

Might it be that all we have discussed to try and recover a healthy understanding of forgiveness applies to "The Way" forward with God himself?

Listen in as Tyler and Aric call out the elephant in the room and explore a really provocative thought that just might unlock a way forward in our need for healing our relationship with God himself:

Forgiving God.

Disclaimer: For those with small children, in this episode, Tyler and Aric discuss some really weighty topics like mortality and trauma...something you may want to take into consideration before listening.

To contact Aric at The Intentional Dad go to www.theintentionaldad.org.