https://odb.org/MY/2022/01/27/squash-the-beef
I think one of the most difficult challenge anyone who has come to faith faces is this ability not to hold grudges. It is easier said than done! Some say forgive but no need to forget. But seriously, if we remember, can we genuinely forgive, especially if we keep on remembering? Some say time will heal. Really? As you can see in today’s ODB, time did not heal, people still remember after 50 years!
If we read Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:12-21, we will see that we need to not only forgive but also bless the person who hurt us, who caused us harm. It’s really an out of this world standard. I think not achievable with our own strength, but only if we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit. When we say, vengeance is mine, says the LORD – it really does not mean that we pray that God will strike this person down with lightning or rain him or her with hailstones from heaven! How is that blessing that person if we ask God to seek revenge for us?
Let bygones be bygones. Someone had harmed or hurt us, let it go. Squash the beef! Not keep the beef! Forget about it. Banish it from our mind. Focus on the good things of God ahead of us. On the many wonders and miracles Jesus has in store for us in our journey with Him on the road to heaven. Not only forget our past hurts but also our past achievements and look ahead to the new milestones He has for us. There is too much to do to be bothered by our past, to be bogged down by our history. Dwelling on what could have been done or even what we had done is not much use unless it helps our future. If it’s lessons learnt and how not to make the same mistakes again, yes by all means! Other than that, forget the past and move on.
Let us be like Jesus and pray for our enemies and those who had harmed us in the past including the government with its institutional racism and all other faults. For they do not know what they were or are doing. Pray that God will bless the country, the government and all who had hurt or harmed us. Let the will of the LORD be done here on earth as it is in heaven! Always remember and be reminded that we are all pilgrims on this journey to heaven. We are merely passing through this world. Don’t let things that happen here bog us down, instead let us march on! Onward, Christian soldier. Marching as to war. With the Cross of Jesus, going on before. Christ the Royal Master, leads against the foe.
Always remember that our fight and struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12)!
Ronnie's Thoughts 