How A Grudge Holds You

Who among us has never held a grudge against someone.  A person hurts us in some way and we are unwilling to forgive and let it go.  It happens to everyone at some point in their life I am sure.  The problem with holding a grudge though is that you either have to be a hypocrite, or you have to hold yourself to an unattainable standard.  Just as everyone has had wrong done to them, so each of us has also wronged others in our life.  To be unforgiving one must either consider his own actions more excusable that those of his peers, or he must be perfectly able to avoid ever offending another.  If the grudge holder does offend another, which is inevitable, he would then have to also be unforgiving toward himself in order to avoid hypocrisy. To be unforgiving toward your fellow man is to be your own worst enemy.  Trying to measure up to a perfect standard in order to justify harboring anger toward another is a bitter pill to swallow.  

This is a struggle I have been familiar with.  Perhaps I should in some strange way be thankful that my faults and mistakes are so colossal that I have no notion of trying to justify them as "less wrong" than someone else's.  My only hope is in Jesus Christ who bore the penalty for my horrendous error on the cross.  He is the One I have wronged above all, and He is the One who has forgiven me completely.  He is also the only One who has a right to hold a grudge, because He is perfect.  He has no fault of His own to compel Him to forgive others, yet He clears us of all our wrongs when we trust in Him.  If my perfect Savior is willing to freely forgive, how much more should this grievous sinner be willing to forgive other sinners.  

Letting go of a grudge is perhaps the most freeing feeling there is because it allows you to finally face your own guilt and let it go.  Admitting your own shortcomings and allowing others to have theirs gives you space to live outside the prison bars of retained anger.  I hope if this is something that you struggle with that you will take an inward look and choose to free yourself from the cruel and unrelenting master called unforgiveness.  In reality you don't hold a grudge, a grudge holds you.