Have you ever "nursed a grudge?" That figure of speech means to keep resenting and disliking someone over a period of time, usually an unreasonably long time. According to idioms.thefreedictionary.com, "The expression uses nurse in the sense of ‘foster a feeling,’ a usage dating from the mid-1700's." My aim in this article is to address those who work hard not to "nurse a grudge." Sincere Christians don’t do that. Decades of life in the Lord’s church have convinced me most Christians sincerely desire to be like Christ, including "bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do" (Colossians 3:13). Authentic disciples of Jesus know He taught, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15). That being said, desiring to forgive and actually forgiving are two entirely different things! Even devoted followers of Jesus sometimes struggle to forgive. Like wounds on the physical body, a wound to our spiritual heart and soul hurts and needs healing. Physical wounds and injuries can be slight or serious, but even a surface scratch or cut can turn into a big deal if left untended and untreated. Infection can easily set in. Of course, the more serious the injury or wound, the more intense the pain and the longer the process of complete healing. So it is, the Bible encourages us to forgive the spiritual wounds and injuries and hurts inflicted on us by others, whether slight or serious! Hear this Holy Spirit inspired directive in Ephesians 4:31 – "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." No right- thinking person would welcome and nurse any level of infection in their body – and no right-thinking Christian will welcome and nurse any level of unforgiveness in their spiritual heart.
So how do you go about forgiving when it sometimes proves hard to do? Dutch Holocaust survivor and Jewess (now deceased) Corrie ten Boom told of struggling to forget a wrong done to her. She said she kept rehashing the incident and couldn’t sleep. Finally she told a minister about her inability to sleep after two weeks. The minister pointed to the church building’s bell tower and told Corrie, "You ring that bell by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After the sexton [that is, the bell-ringer], lets go of the rope, the bell keeps swinging. First ding, then dong. Slower and slower until there’s a final dong and then it stops." The preacher went on to tell her the same thing is true of forgiving, saying, "When we forgive, we take our hand off the rope. If we’ve been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn’t be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for awhile. They’re just the ding-dongs of the bell slowing down." Dear reader, my hope is that any ding-dongs of unforgiveness resounding in your heart are slowing down and growing dimmer. Let us pray that our hearts may come to be totally healed and uninfected by the hurtful wounds others inflict on us. Ask God to help you turn loose of the rope of unforgiveness and dim your ding-dongs until they are no more! Here’s to hearing that final dong.
By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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