When I was young and cocky and dumb, I used to say, "I don't get mad, I get even!" The truth of the matter was that I didn't get it at all. Carrying a grudge is equivalent to letting someone occupy your mind - rent free. You bear the entire burden while they go on about their business. To act out on your anger brings you down to their level and mires you in the same muck. Neither way ends well.
More importantly, neither way honors God or advances your purpose as a child of the King. Consider the words of the apostle Paul, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors" (Cor 5:19, 20).
As His ambassadors, we must be about His business of reconciliation not be about holding people at arms length or breaking down relationships in anger. Relationship is the hallmark of our personal relationship with God. In fact people "will know you are [Jesus'] disciples by your love for one another" (John 13:35).
Establishing, enriching and restoring relationships can be quite difficult. Walking away or lobbing verbal grenades can even feel right at the moment. But the work of God is clear and taking the easy path or personal comfort have little to do with accomplishing that work - we are to be reconcilers not wreckers.
How can you be actively engage in the eternal work of God while you are engaging in internal squabbles within the body of Christ. Or, how does one draw another to Christ while pushing him away from self? When we won't forgive or won't try to reconcile, we stand in opposition to God's will. We must choose between God's will and our won't.
Jus' Sayn.
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