Avoiding Resentment

Musings from the Garden

By Peggy Wyar

 As I was talking with my husband not long ago, we began considering how much we have changed over the course of our lives together. We realized that someone who knew us, or had heard about us, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago may still have that same, old impression of us, never even considering that the same God who has been changing and transforming them has also been working in us.

It’s really unfortunate that the sin we may have been addicted to and trying to overcome long ago may be the thing that is remembered. Those who know us now recognize that our beliefs and reactions and choices have continued to be refined so that we are not the same as we were in the past. But those who only have that old snapshot of our life may be holding onto resentment or bitterness because they haven’t experienced the effects of how God has transformed us.

Can we change their minds? No. It is their choice to continue to hold onto the negative perspective.

What can we do? We can rejoice that God is continuing His redemptive work in us and in them. We can pray that we release any resentments that cloud our view of those we have known through many different seasons, trials and struggles. We can pray for truly reconciled hearts. We can pray for grace-filled testimonies of deliverance and healing. We can learn to see with new eyes as we look to the heart, not just the outward behaviors, of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to enlighten our eyes to see the “new creation” all believers have become in Jesus.

As we consider the mercy that God has lavished on us, how can we not extend it to our brothers and sisters? As those in Christ’s Body, we are all humanly imperfect and magnificently complete because of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.

Ephesians 4:30-32 NIV “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

2 Timothy 2:24 NIV “ And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”