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Grudges Are So Last Year!
''...Forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another...'' Colossians 3:13
New Year, new start, right? Well, as Big Ben chimes midnight, why not leave all your 2011 hurts and grudges behind? Make 2012 a blank computer screen ready to write new history on, or an empty canvas to paint your masterpiece on. Do you get where we're going with this? New Year, new start!
Perhaps the festive season brought its fair share of family fighting and best-mate breakdowns... well, today's verse is telling us to loosen that grip on that grudge. Jesus-style forgiveness is on the menu. Forgiveness doesn't come easy to us grudge-bearers.
Philip Yancey says it's unnatural: 'You don't find dolphins forgiving sharks for eating their playmates. It's a dog-eat-dog world ... not a dog-forgive-dog world.' He's right - throwing sharp objects and posting threats on Facebook is what we naturally want to do.
But why not do the 'supernatural' thing? Learn a lesson from Jesus, who forgave his killers whilst they were still murdering him.
Lew Smedes famously said, 'To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.'
Who is really benefiting from you holding on to that gripe? Your insides are all tied up in knots, your brain is running that argument on constant replay, and your tear ducts are ready for an extra shift at the meltdown factory. You're prisoner to your own grudge. But you hold the key to freedom.
written by Bob Gass
''...Forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another...'' Colossians 3:13
New Year, new start, right? Well, as Big Ben chimes midnight, why not leave all your 2011 hurts and grudges behind? Make 2012 a blank computer screen ready to write new history on, or an empty canvas to paint your masterpiece on. Do you get where we're going with this? New Year, new start!
Perhaps the festive season brought its fair share of family fighting and best-mate breakdowns... well, today's verse is telling us to loosen that grip on that grudge. Jesus-style forgiveness is on the menu. Forgiveness doesn't come easy to us grudge-bearers.
Philip Yancey says it's unnatural: 'You don't find dolphins forgiving sharks for eating their playmates. It's a dog-eat-dog world ... not a dog-forgive-dog world.' He's right - throwing sharp objects and posting threats on Facebook is what we naturally want to do.
But why not do the 'supernatural' thing? Learn a lesson from Jesus, who forgave his killers whilst they were still murdering him.
Lew Smedes famously said, 'To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.'
Who is really benefiting from you holding on to that gripe? Your insides are all tied up in knots, your brain is running that argument on constant replay, and your tear ducts are ready for an extra shift at the meltdown factory. You're prisoner to your own grudge. But you hold the key to freedom.
written by Bob Gass
