{"id":4244,"date":"2017-10-15T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4244"},"modified":"2017-07-23T23:09:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T04:09:45","slug":"choose-not-to-be-resentful-and-bitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4244","title":{"rendered":"Choose Not to Be Resentful and Bitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

One More Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Having been born in the foothills of the Ozarks, I know a bit about grudge mentalities. Now don\u2019t get me wrong! I love my roots, but mountain and hill people have a reputation for holding a grudge. Of course, so did the Godfather, but I\u2019m not from Sicily. Grudges can last forever \u2013 long after those who felt mistreated are dead and buried. Yet the hatred against one family or another lives on. The Hatfields and McCoys fought so long that no one remembered what the original argument was about. Nothing good comes from holding a grudge. People become bitter and resentful.<\/p>\n

When we think we\u2019ve been wronged or treated unfairly, we become resentful. Resentment is defined as bitter indignation. The Bible has nothing good to say about being bitter and resentful. In fact, it says be careful not to let a root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble. (Hebrews 12:15) If it does spring up, we are instructed to put it away. (Ephesians 4:31)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how resentment and bitterness can start. We get deeply hurt. We feel injured or offended. We justify these feelings. We think we have a right to feel this way. Then the person who did these awful things to us does not react the way we think they should. They don\u2019t apologize. They don\u2019t grovel. They may even ignore us. We say things to ourselves like, \u201cIf only they would acknowledge what they did to me, I could let go of this bitterness.\u201d But they don\u2019t acknowledge it. Maybe they don\u2019t even care!<\/p>\n

So we decide to turn it over to God. After all, God tells us not to take revenge, because vengeance is His. (Romans 12:19) We\u2019ll leave their punishment in God\u2019s hands. They better watch out because now they are going to get it! But what happens? God doesn\u2019t punish them the way we think He should. They may even prosper. Maybe God won\u2019t punish them at all. We feel like God has really botched this, because we want them to suffer the way they made us suffer.<\/p>\n

What are we supposed to do for those no good, lousy rats who wrong us? Well\u2026we are supposed to do the right thing, even when they don\u2019t. God says not to repay evil with evil. (Romans 12:17) We are to pray for our enemies. We are to bless our enemies. (Matthew 5:44) We are to trust God to take care of it \u2013 His way. We need to forgive them, even when they don\u2019t ask for forgiveness or acknowledge what they\u2019ve done. We are to let go of bitterness and resentment because no good can come from it. It breeds anger and discontent, which will not enhance our spiritual growth or journey.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 Resentment and bitterness do not hurt the other guy as much as they hurt us. Nelson Mandela puts it this way: \u201cResentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Suggestions for practicing this choice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ask God to help you let go of bitterness and resentment because they will hinder your spiritual growth. It hardens your heart. We become unreceptive to God\u2019s Word and love. We get stuck in the past, unable to move forward.<\/p>\n

We are to forgive our enemies. Forgiveness does not mean letting others continue to hurt us. It just means we surrender our right to get even or retaliate.<\/p>\n

When we pray for our enemies or ask God to bless them, we are asking God to do what is best for them. We think \u201cbest\u201d means showering someone with health and wealth, but God doesn\u2019t think the way we do. We aren\u2019t asking God to buy them a Mercedes Benz. God knows what they need to be a better person; we do not.<\/p>\n

Do what\u2019s right even if the other guy doesn\u2019t. We are told that if our enemies hunger or thirst, then give them food and water. (Romans 12:17-21) Overcome evil with good.<\/p>\n

Remember, no matter how long we nurse a grudge, it will only get bitter, not better.<\/p>\n

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One More Year of Choices By Barbara Dahlgren Having been born in the foothills of the Ozarks, I know a bit about grudge mentalities. Now don\u2019t get me wrong! I love my roots, but mountain and hill people have a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}