In today’s political climate just about everybody has been offended by somebody and the first reaction is resentment.
Resentment, the opposite of forgiveness, requires a lot of time and energy. On the other hand, forgiveness is like releasing your grip on a heavy object. Letting go or dropping a heavy object requires no energy; you just let go. In Mark 11:25, Jesus said, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions.”
When someone stabs you in the back what’s the best thing for you to do? You do have a choice. Our natural tendency is to use our energy and time hating, resenting, carrying a grudge and nursing our resentment. Jesus tells us to let it go so God is able to forgive our sins, like hate and resentment.
Sometimes it seems like we have a right to be angry and carry around a grudge for a while after we’ve been wronged. Who made that rule? It wasn’t our Heavenly Father; He says to drop it and let Him carry it for you. He has already volunteered to do that, you know.
But how? It’s as simple as just saying to God, “This anger and resentment is too heavy for me to lug around any longer. I don’t know how to handle it well and I’ll likely mess it up by saying or doing the wrong thing. I choose to trust that you know what to do with it. I’d like you to handle it from here. Thank you, Lord.”
When you’re treated unfairly, instead of stewing and griping to others, it’s better to turn the matter over to God. He won’t be overburdened and you’ll be free to focus on worshiping and serving Him. But you can only do that if you don’t have anger and resentment consuming your thoughts. Forgiveness allows you to stop shaking your fist in the air and instead, raise your holy hands to God in prayer. In 1Timothy 2:8, Paul wrote, “I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”
Don’t waste your time and energy harboring anger and resentment toward those who offend or cheat you. Just drop the weight of that anger and let Jesus deal with it. It requires a decision, but you’ll see that dropping a heavy object requires lots less energy than lugging it around.
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