Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - GRUDGES

 GRUDGES

Most people, at some time or other, will hold a grudge against another person. Thankfully most of these are minor in nature but still can cause considerable difficulties between the persons involved. Countries, as well, often hold grudges against other nations and most times these are of a more serious nature.

The Bible states that we are not to hold ill will against anyone. Leviticus 19:18 states: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.” Isaiah 43:18 puts it this way: “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.”  Finally, Romans 12:17 says: “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”

This, at least in part, is because “… the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).  Thus, we are to “…continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God…” (Hebrews 13:15).

Unfortunately, because we don’t usually do what is required of us, events often do not turn out the way they otherwise might. Grudges go on, ill will persists, and the world continues to unfold as at present.  We forget that someone is always there; the one we are always to be thinking about.

Does it really make a difference? Probably more often than we realize and there are certainly examples enough to indicate so.

Ira Sankey, a singer who worked with American evangelist D. L. Moody, was a Union soldier during the Civil War. On one occasion, on his way back from a trip to England, he was talked into doing an impromptu concert while on a riverboat near Pennsylvania. He sang “Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead us” a song by Willian Bradbury.  After he finished singing a man approached him.  He told Ira that years before he had been a soldier in the Confederate Army, and that on one occasion, while Ira Sankey had been on guard duty, had the opportunity to shoot him.  The man told Ira he did not take that opportunity because as Ira was on guard he was also singing the same song he had just rendered. The man also mentioned that his own mother frequently sang the same song and he was so startled by hearing a Union guard singing that song while on duty that he forgave the opportunity and did not shoot. Ira and this second man went off together as new friends to talk.

More recently, at a Halifax Tattoo, midway through the performance, a lone man stepped out unto the arena surface.  In a quiet voice he related how, during the Second World War, he had been the Captain of an Allied vessel that had been sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat not far off the coast of Nova Scotia. While he was relating this story, in front of an audience so quiet you could hear a pin drop, a second elderly man slowly walked out from the opposite side of the Metro Center.  He, in turn, began to relate that he too had also been in the navy during the war and had also captained a vessel. He had been, in fact, the captain of the U-boat which had sunk an Allied vessel off Canada’s coast. He now lived near Halifax. As he finished his story, both men walked off the floor together relating how they had become friends in the latter years of their lives.

At a time when there are so many conflicts and problems between countries and peoples, it’s interesting to see what can develop when grudges and ill will can be put aside and conflicts forgotten. What can be is what could be if people and nations “[Did] not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old” (Isaiah 43:18). We are told not to bear grudges and to love our neighbours while praising God because we are always being watched.  Perhaps it’s something we should always be thinking about.