Are you holding on to a grudge, hate or otherwise ungodly attitude toward someone in your life? My brothers & sisters in Christ, please know how these feelings can destroy you from the inside out! It's like taking poison & then hoping someone else will die from it!

Here's what God's Word says:

- Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Eph. 4:31)

- ... do not let the sun go down on your anger... (Eph. 4:26)

- “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.(Luke 6:37)

- But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matt. 6:15)

- Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. (Col. 3:14)

Today's society screams "me! me! me!" "I have the right to......" "I deserve....." "I am owed....."

If we would only put on the humility of Christ, we would understand that none of us deserve a THING! The prophet Isaiah declared:

- For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Is. 64:6)

BUT God!!!!..... It's only because of His mercy & grace that He has found us clean in His eyes! How can we possibly think we are better than others & have a right to hold any kind of hate or resentment in our hearts?

The apostle Paul says in Romans 12:3 - "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith."

Life is short. REALLY short. Let's check ourselves & make the necessary adjustments to be able to say THIS about who we are as Christians:

- We love, because He first loved us. 1John 4:19

If this message (given to me by the Lord as I wrote) pricks your heart, you know what to do. TAKE IT TO THE ROCK OF YOUR SALVATION! Then let it go!

Love & Hugs,

Heather Thomas Van Deren