A fascinating story starts in chapter 4 of the book of Acts.

It goes like this:

“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.“ (Acts 4:1-3)

The apostles Peter and John found a paralytic man at the door of the temple who had been placed there to receive alms. Then, moved by faith, Peter healed the paralytic man, who began to jump, making it notorious that the miracle had happened.

Soon, the people were surprised, and Peter and John began to speak, saying that the miracle had not happened because of them but because of the one they had crucified days before, the Lord Jesus. However, if they believed, they could also receive the same as that man.

However, what should have been a reason for joy was a reason for pain for those religious leaders, who, according to the text, were hurt a lot because the apostles were teaching the people.

See, they were not happy about the paralytic man’s healing. There was no joy because a sign of God was happening among them. There was the famous “eat one’s heart out”, and the feeling of envy of not wanting someone to be more successful, and these are other names for grudges. And everyone—Christian or not—knows that keeping grudges is wrong. Even so, some prefer to keep them and take care of them as if they were pets.

However, in the Christian environment, there is even more awareness that a person who holds grudges and refuses to forgive directly conflicts with the Word of God, which teaches that we must forgive so that we may be forgiven.

Therefore, for a Christian to admit that they are holding grudges is to say, in other words, that they are spiritually evil, that they are fallen. Therefore, few people, except for the very sincere ones, admit that they have grudges.

So, in order not to admit that they have grudges, they create other words, other ways of explaining what they feel: “I don’t hold grudges against him; I just don’t want to talk to him”, “It’s not grudges; I’m just disappointed”, “I’m not grudgeful; I’m just upset”, etc…

People change the labels of grudges, but the content is the same feeling in those religious leaders.

Obviously, Jesus does not teach us to live with our enemies but to love them. And loving the enemy, biblically speaking, means doing what is right before God. Even if they try to harm you, you will do what is right: pay evil with good.

However, many people are mistaken because they think their feeling of grudges disguised as disappointment is justified.

Understand: Grudge is wrong in any form, by whatever name it exists in your life. If your life is stuck and you can’t move on and live a heavy life, grudges probably have something to do with it. You have to open your heart to God in the first place, pull out this grudge from within you, grant forgiveness for the sake of decision, not feeling, and be free of it so that, finally, you can move forward and not get stuck in this prison you have created for yourself.

Check out this entire message in the video above.