31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. – Ephesians 4:31-32
One of the most devastating diseases known to mankind is one called Grudges. It starts off as a little thing but if left untreated it can manifest itself into something much bigger. Before you know it, Grudges has eaten away at your life and your soul.
How does Grudges start? It begins as a hurt that the victim has received from someone who they trust in some way. The victim feels anger and resentment (and in some cases, revenge) towards the one who hurt them. This type of reaction to hurt is perfectly naturally but the victim ultimately must decide whether to leave the hurt treated or untreated.
If the victim decides to leave the hurt untreated, the anger and resentment continues to grow and grow. What was a small wound becomes a very large and open one, eventually grabbing hold of the victim’s thought processes and clouding their judgement. Their lives become full of bitterness and this, in turn, begins to affect their physical and emotional well-being. They become stuck in a rut simply by never letting go of the hurt.
The ultimate cure for Grudges is forgiveness. By forgiving the person who hurts you, you are deciding to let go and move forward. It is also something God wants you to do. He doesn’t want to see your life wasted away on Grudges and holding onto something that will keep a darkness within you. God knows how Grudges can bind a person and how they can never be free unless they decide to forgive.
Holding on to the Grudges disease is a heavy burden and, in some cases, it can be a very lonely thing. You feel that no-one understands what you are going through, and you get angry at those who you think should. It seems that everybody is against you when they don’t agree on your side of the story. As your Grudges disease is fulfilled, it begins to eat more and more at your mind and soul.
The Grudges disease also blinds us to the only one who does understand – God. However, God requires you to let go of Grudges so that you can be whole and free from the burden. When the Grudges disease realises that a cure is at hand it will fight to keep its hold on you. The last thing it wants is you forgiving the perpetrator of the hurt as the anger and resentment it feeds off will be gone.
The Bible has many verses on forgiveness and the consequences of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a sin and keeping that sin close to us only drives us further away from God. We are told to let go of all bad feelings we have towards the person who has hurt us and to forgive them. By forgiving them, we draw ourselves nearer to God and start living in the light.
Originally published at Inspirational Christian Blogs – June 2016