Welcome to Joni and Friends. I’m Joni Eareckson Tada.
It’s amazing how you become the people you focus on. I’m thinking of Bobby, a young man I knew back when I was in the rehab hospital. I was told that before he fell off that ladder and broke his back, Bobby was a pretty positive fellow… optimistic… thinking the best of others… he worked in construction and was known as a good-all-around guy. But then there was that day when he was at his construction site; some bloke who wasn’t watching where he was going knocked into the ladder, causing Bobby to lose his balance. The next thing he knew, he was lying face up on the ground, his body had fallen on a couple of concrete blocks. Just like that, he had broken the vertebrae in his lower back and was left paralyzed.
By the time I met Bobby in rehab, he was sullen and angry. He used to lie prostrate on a stretcher that he could wheel up and down the hallway. I’d catch him sometimes parked by the elevator, propped up on his elbows and smoking a cigarette (back then, you could get away with that in a hospital). He’d curse his bad luck and often talked about that man who bumped his ladder, growling over the fact that the guy was still on his feet; and Bobby? He’d be paralyzed for the rest of his life.
At any rate, he seemed nothing like the positive, optimistic guy they said he was before the accident. And looking back, I think that was because Bobby never got over his grudge against that other construction worker. The accident became his whole focus… and Bobby was never quite able to move forward.
Bearing a grudge, friend, is serious business. So much so, that listen to what God says in Leviticus 19:18; he says “Do not… bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Now that’s serious stuff. Think of it. The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is one of the fundamental commands of all time. Not only in the Ten Commandments, but Jesus repeats it often in the New Testament. All the Law and the Prophets can be summed up in just two commandments – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And what does God think is the first way you can honor that commandment? What does he want us to understand it means? “Do not bear a grudge.” I believe God gives bearing grudges such a prominent place next to one of the two great commandments because he knows how a grudge can poison our minds and hearts and attitudes. When we focus on the past and harbor resentments, we shrivel up and become cranky, bad tempered, and crabby. Sadly, like Bobby.
Think about it. Is there someone you’re coddling resentment against? It doesn’t have to be a big thing – could be just an irksome dislike of a coworker or neighbor. Friend, the longer you carry around that grudge, the more peevish and sour you’ll become. Let God fill your heart with his forgiveness and show you how to truly love your neighbor as yourself. And, hey, if you need some prayer support in releasing that grudge to the Lord, you’ve got some Christian brothers and sisters here at Joni and Friends who’ll be happy to pray for you… as well as for that person you’re struggling to forgive. Let us know here at joniandfriendsradio.org.
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