Love Does NOT Hold a Grudge

Alrighty, kiddos. Personally, this is one of the toughest ones for me. It is seriously hard to forgive people when they've hurt you.

grudge: a feeling of ill will or resentment.

Let's talk about Jonah. His story is found in, GUESS. The book of Jonah! (Go figure.) So, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh because he was a prophet. Instead, he goes to Joppa and tries to sail to Tarshish. While on the sea, a huge storm comes, and the sailors start casting lots((Jonah 1:7)). They find out that it was Jonah's doing, and he tells them to toss him overboard((Jonah 1:12)). The storm stops immediately, and he's swallowed by a big fish((Jonah 1:17)). He prays from inside the fish for forgiveness and the fish spits him out((Jonah 2)).

Why didn't Jonah just GO to Nineveh in the first place?? I mean, seriously. God TOLD him to, and he ran away. In the Veggie Tales movie "Jonah", then it showed Jonah as being scared of the Ninevites because they slapped each other with fish. That WOULD be pretty scary, but I imagine what the Ninevites were actually doing was much worse. In Jonah 1:2, it says that their wickedness had risen up before God and God was going to destroy the city.

The thing is: Jonah didn't care. He WANTED them to be punished for their disobedience. That's why he was all wimpy and ran away. He didn't want to warn them. Then, after he got swallowed by a fish and thrown up again, he held a grudge against God! That's never a good idea. After he prophesied to Nineveh, he sat and waited for God to judge them. God provided shade, and then He took it away((Jonah 4:6-7)). (I must say, "haha, Jonah." I mean...really.)

Another look at holding a grudge was Herodias and John the Baptist. Herodias was mad because John kept telling Herod that it was illegal for him to be married to her. Herodias' daughter did a dance for Herod, and in turn he said that she could have up to half of his kingdom. She asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter(mommy's orders). All because John told Herod that it was illegal for him to be married to Herodias. ((Matthew 14:1-11))

So there are two different Biblical examples of how holding grudges is a bad thing. I don't think that God is going to give you the desire to behead someone or put you in the belly of a fish, but it can really mess up relationships with people. Yeah, they shouldn't have screwed up. The right thing to do is forgive them and MOVE ON. Seriously. God forgave you. He doesn't hold the time you lied, or stole or cheated against you. So, we need to be able to extend the same courtesy to others. No, "forgiving" does not mean "trusting". (ie. Just because you forgive someone does not mean that you have to trust them immediately again. You just need to love them above yourself, and let God do the rest.)

Remember my intermission?? When we don't forgive people and move on, we're not giving them a chance to forgive themselves either. When GOD has forgiven someone, then we need to make the effort. It's not easy, and Jesus never said it would be. He just said that we needed to love people.

I thought this was really neat. I taught a Sunday School class full of 8-year-olds on Sunday morning(go figure....). They did this program called "Kidmo", and it's a video that just plays for the entire Sunday School hour(supposedly). Anyway, it didn't, and we(My neighbor and I) asked them what they wanted to do. SURPRISINGLY, a little girl named Shannon says, "Can we just talk about Jesus?".

Pause. Rewind. Playback.

SHE'S EIGHT!!!!! That was SO cool. If you'd ever been to that church, then you'd know that they aren't really getting their spiritual fill; even for little kids. Their memory verse was Luke 6:32. (They learned motions and everything!!)

"If you love someone who loves you, what kind of good does that do? Even bad people love those who love them."

I think that's pretty applicable here. If you can forgive someone who forgives you, what kind of testimony is that?? Even non-Christians can forgive people who forgive them! When you forgive people who are HARD to forgive, THAT is when you're showing the love of Jesus to them. It's no good for you to do what everyone else does. Shake up the earth and show people that you're DIFFERENT. Stop trying to blend in, because that's not gonna change anything.

((James 1:22)) "And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself."

Yep, called you out. I'm sitting here, pouring out my heart and soul for you guys, but I want to see ACTION. I'm not just pulling stuff out of the air, here. This is stuff that I'm actually having to apply to my life too. I want you guys to call me out if you see me being a spiritual couch potato. I want you guys to call me out if I'm saying something you disagree with, or that is Biblically incorrect. PLEASE guys. I need your input. If I don't have active readers, then I get a bit discouraged, and it's hard for me to put myself out there if people aren't reading. So COMMENT times a million! It will be greatly appreciated. Ü