April 10, 2018
When you get resentful, when you start thinking about revenge and retaliation against someone who’s hurt you, that’s toxic to your soul. Toxic!
The fact is, you’re going to get hurt. Nobody makes it through life without getting hurt. Why? Because this is not heaven. This is earth. We’re all basically broken people. Sometimes we hurt each other intentionally; sometimes we hurt each other unintentionally. Sometimes people hurt you; sometimes you hurt people. When that happens, we start to build up grudges.
But what I’m interested in is not so much the fact that you’re going to get hurt – I’m sorry for it – but what I’m far more interested in is how you respond to that hurt. Because your response is far more important than the hurt itself. That hurt can either make you bitter … or it can make you better. When God restores your soul, He wants to take all the bitter things in your life and turn them into the better things in your life.
So,what do you do when you’re hurt? Retaliate? Resent? No you don’t. Let me show you why.
The Bible says, “To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do …. You’re only hurting yourself with your anger.” (Job 5:2, 18:4) You’re only hurting yourself. When you hold onto a grudge, it’s not hurting them; it’s only hurting you. They may be totally oblivious to your feelings. It’s not eating away at them. They’re out there having a lot of fun, watching movies, going to nice restaurants. They’re totally oblivious. Who gets hurt when you’re resentful? You do. It’s like drinking poison and hoping it kills them. It’s like swallowing fire and hoping they get burned.
You say, “But, Jeff, you don’t know what they did to me. You don’t know how much they’ve hurt me.”
Let it go. Why? Because they deserve it? No, they don’t deserve it. You let it go because you don’t want to carry around that pain anymore. You don’t want that poison in your system. So you let God settle the score. You trust God to bring justice, in His own time.