We’ve all dealt with or are dealing with issues of betrayal, disappointment and woundedness. In the future we will have situations that are unfair and hurtful. Prior to the resolution of those incidents is the matter of becoming Christ like.
The fruit of the Spirit mostly grows in bad soil. How does kindness grow? It grows in the soil of a situation where someone has said or done something that is unkind. Now we have a choice. Do we perform an act of kindness, say something generous? Or do we give eye for eye, tooth for tooth?
We tend to hold on to bad stuff. We use it to justify our position. Eventually it’ll take a heavier toll upon us than the original issue. As long as we hold on to the pain and anger, we cannot progress. The trauma locks us into a present-past scenario, and we are unable to move on. The wound will need more and more treatment the longer we allow it to continue.
A person in the army was wounded in a gun battle. He was hit by a ricochet from a wall. The surgeon recovered the bullet and closed the wound. However, there was a small fragment of stone that entered just before the bullet. It remained inside and festered, requiring a second operation. It was very difficult for him until the wound was reopened and the foreign object removed.
The first step to recovery is the willingness to admit that we are sharing our heart with a foreign body that does not belong there. Then the hard step is to relinquish our pain and the justifications that have bound us to it. Let it go. Let it go. Every time the emotion rises up. Say Lord, I relinquish this pain and anger to you. I let go of my justification and need for vengeance. Take it out of my heart. I’m done with it.
The next step is to renew your thinking so that those old thoughts can never return. When we want to deal with old thoughts, we must think of new ones first. It’s the new for the old policy in the Kingdom. We don’t work on old mindsets-we just replaced them. Like a light bulb. Take one out, put another one in and switch it out.
A part of that process is the need to forgive. Relinquish the blame that we put on ourselves or other people. When we really forgive people, we release any feeling that they owe us for the wrong done. We should be the ones to release the wrong. Set them free.
Holding on to a grudge means that we have decided to continue our own suffering. We have provided a safe harbor for our misery, grief, pain, and anger. Resentment and bitterness will keep the grudge safe so it can work its power in our hearts. The poison in our system can affect everyone around us. It creates an atmosphere that touches everyone around us, from the youngest to the eldest.
Relinquish the pain and start to live again.