Grudges and questions By: KB 12.11.14

Someone once said holding on to anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die…

With that being the opening salvo, I have to ask, what’s got you stuck?  What pain causing situation do you keep returning to?  As a kid, I remember watching cartoons and sitcoms with people lying on the psychiatrist’s couch and going on about something that happened in their childhood….when do you release it? How do you release it? Most of us assuage our bruised and battered egos by placing blame on the person that made us feel less than or inadequate in some way…but what if they were telling you the truth? What if there is a character defect on you part? Did you return hurt for your hurt? Did lashing out restore you and your ego?

Let’s examine what Scripture has to say about grudges:

Ephesians 4: 31- 32      31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Matthew 6: 14 -15      14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Luke 17: 3- 4            3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

Galatians 6: 1- 3  1          Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

I, personally, embrace the passage in Galatians…..my ego is what shouts over the rhyme, reason and sometimes the voice of God and tells me that I am more that I am. The end result of listening to ego is “butt hurt” (yes, I used the phrase butt hurt in teaching the word because I wanted you to get the full gist)

I am like the Incredible Hulk…I am meek and mild-mannered for the most part but when you rise up in opposition to the things I value then you see the monster. We all have the potential to enact this….

Earlier I asked How do you release the hurt, the pain, the grudge….and the answer is very simple forgive the trespass and repent for your anger……..both actions are good for your soul! The person may never acknowledge their part in the melee, and that’s what causes a lot of our anger…WE WANT THEM TO. I’m here to share with you that they don’t have to in order for you to forgive them…release them and set yourself free! Release them and go on and live your life! Rest in the knowledge that there accountability is for us all!!!!

Romans 14: 10 -12   …10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." 12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.