Infusion Bible eStudies are downloadable small group studies that can be read online, printed, or emailed. Each study includes a leader guide and a study guide and is suitable for a one-hour group Bible study.
Listen...to the words of the Scripture, and in them discover God's message for you today.
Look...at a brief verbal snapshot from the scrapbook of contemporary life and discover its connection both to you and to the Scripture passage.
Live...inside the Scripture to discover its context and message; then allow the Scripture to come alive in you and cause you to live out your faith in new and more-effective ways.
Read an excerpt from this study below.
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The situation is one that pastors dread but probably experience several times. Gathered at the hospital with the grieving relatives of a person who has just died, dissension within the family erupts. “Fred and Mary are not to be present for the family’s calling hours,” or “We don’t want Susan and John to sit in the pews reserved for the family.” Behind the bitterness is unresolved conflict that goes back in time so many years that no one can remember how it all began. The heart of the problem is an unwillingness to forgive. That unwillingness eventually turns into bitterness. Now, at a time when family members need to console and support one another, grief is compounded by conflict.
It is equally tragic when unforgiven hurts divide members of a congregation. The problem may start as a minor misunderstanding or as a serious moral offense for which forgiveness is sought. Appropriate disciplinary action may be taken, and restitution may be made; but forgiveness is withheld.
Pastors are also privileged to witness situations when families and congregations are able to sustain one another in crises because through the years relationships have been strengthened by forgiveness both given and received. The occasions calling for forgiveness may have required serious efforts at conflict resolution, but the persons involved have been freed to love because the shackles of unforgiven wrongs have been broken.
