Give Up Your Grudges

Chuckle:  A friend was in a hospital elevator with an orderly who was wheeling an elaborate machine with several pipes, dials and gauges. "Man, I'd hate to be connected to that machine," said the friend. "So would I," agreed the orderly. "It's a carpet shampooer!" --Charles Barron

Good Quote: "He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass." --George Herbert

“Bear with each other and forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13 NIV).  

In these words, God is challenging you to give up your personal grudges. A grudge is a deep ongoing resentment that you cultivate in your heart against someone - unforgiving attitudes and actions. Harboring a grudge is nursing a destructive dislike for someone. Grudges destroy marriages, break up families, ruin friendships, and split churches.

I want to remind you that grudges are not just destructive, they are also self-destructive. Harboring grudges will eventually destroy you -- if not physically, certainly emotionally and spiritually. Job 21 describes people who “Have no happiness at all, they live and die with bitter hearts.”

"It is said that a rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so upset that it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is -- a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these grudges and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves."

Jesus' told a parable about the servant who was forgiven a huge debt by the king and then refused to forgive someone else a tiny amount. Jesus said his unforgiving spirit landed him in prison. Max Lucado says, “Unforgiving servants always end up in prison. Prisons of anger guilt and depression." God says “don’t sentence yourself to prison.” Set yourself free. Give up your grudges and “forgive each other whatever grievances you may have against one another,” even though you were wronged.

You may need to give up a grudge and forgive your parents, children, spouse, workmate, a neighbor, or someone in your church congregation. Please don’t tell God, or yourself, that you can’t forgive -- what you really mean is that you won’t forgive. If Christ can forgive your sin, despite it involving the pain of the cross, then surely you can forgive and give up your grievance against another person whatever the cost.

Love, Jerry & Dotse