Life’s Too Short for Resentments

18 Oct Life’s Too Short for Resentments

Read Ephesians 4:31
Thought for the Day: Let go of resentments.

Captain Ahab seemed to have it all: his own ship (the Pequod), a reliable crew, and even a right-hand-man named Starbuck (who is now the namesake for a popular coffee company). But Ahab was not content. He couldn’t simply complete voyages, make a living, and retire. Instead, he was singularly focused on his disdain for the whale Moby Dick. After having lost his leg in an encounter with the whale years before, Ahab became consumed with resentment. What is most tragic in Moby Dick is a simple fact: no one made Ahab stay bitter. At any point, he could have stopped hunting the whale and resumed his life. In the end, Ahab’s resentment became so consuming that it destroyed the ship, the crew, and himself.

There is nothing Biblical or Christian about holding onto resentments. The Apostle Paul himself kept it short and sweet: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” As followers of Jesus, we are to love God and our neighbors. This leaves no room for the self-destructive behavior of holding onto resentments.

Life can accurately be viewed as a series of cycles. For Captain Ahab, an encounter with a whale launched him into a self-destructive spin. For us, initial resentments quickly snowball and leave us feeling empty (at best) or hateful (at worst). As we start a new week, let’s ask God for the willingness to lay aside any feelings of bitterness we may have towards anyone. No one is forcing us to continue negative cycles. Our lives are too short for resentments. After all, since “This is the day that the LORD has made”, we know that today is a gift!

In Christ,
Pastors Stan and David