Unmasking Assumptions Pt 1

Each of us has a story and a life that we have lived to this point. We each have experiences in our life, to include relationships, that we may or may not want to remember. What we do with those experiences is key to our future more than we sometimes realize. For those painful moments and/or relationships, will we ultimately forgive the people behind the pain or will we hold everyone in our future relationships hostage for what has happened in the past? I have found that whenever there is something that I have not not forgiven someone for, anytime that I experience something that even looks like it, I will automatically attach it to my past pain without accurately assessing it. Sometimes this can happen with people who one would think should be close to us and should really know us. Jesus' disciples were close by Him most of the time in proximity, but that did not equate to them all being close to Him spiritually. this is why Jesus was so amazed and excited at Peter's response to the question "Who do you say that I am". Peter's response was, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". Yes, Peter answered that way, but not all the disciples. Judas, referred to Jesus simply as innocent blood before he hanged himself. But then again, this is how Judas could betray Jesus, because he did not know Jesus for who He really was and is. The question for us is, do we know the people that we spend our time with or are they just someone we work or live in close proximity to? Spending the time to know them now can eliminate wasteful time later making or debunking assumptions about them or problems in the relationship.