May 10 - Transference
Transference is very common in human relationships. The negative aspects of one relationship are usually recycled in many other subsequent relationships. Through such recycling of hurts, the original sins are able to breed more reactive sins and there is no end to such transferences. Many married couples may have problems relating to one another because the wife transfers her hurts from her father to her husband and the husband transfers his hurts from his mother to his wife. In transference, we are dealing not with each other but with the negative experiences of each other in the past.
When the elders told Samuel about his two sons and then asked for a king to rule over them, Samuel was offended. Later, he would give a farewell speech to the people, stating that he had served them well without taking on any bribery or having oppressed anyone and the people would agree with him. Now, he was told that the system of judges would no longer serve the needs of the people and they needed a king. So Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord told him something about transference: “for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them.” The rebellion of the people against God was transferred towards the human leader, Samuel. It was not about how they felt about Samuel, it was all about their feeling towards God.
Have you ever wondered about why many of our pastors are treated so poorly by the members of their own flock? Most of the time, it is not about the pastors but about how the people’s attitude towards God. If they despise God and do not want to follow Him completely, the attitude is transferred to the spiritual leaders. Spiritual leaders are often attacked personally but they need to know that it is ultimately directed towards God and not towards them.
Jesus understood this and so He knew how to bring all the hurts from the people to God Himself. He was on earth not to do His will but the will of Father. If the people forsook Him, betrayed Him, persecuted Him and eventually killed Him, they were directing all these to the Father. The less you are self-centered and self-willed, the more you identify with God, the less likely that you would be hurt by the transference of others. If you think like God, do His will and obey Him in everything, all negative experiences will go automatically to Him. The hurts are not on you.
All sins are sinning against God, although people are hurt in the process. If we bring the sins of others to God and see it as transference or collateral damage, you will not take hurts so seriously. When you and God are one, the blood of Jesus will block out all kinds of attacks and heal all kinds of wounds. Go to Jesus now!
Ps 68:7-18 1 Sam 8:1-9:27 John 6:22-42 Prov 14:34-35