Resentment
There are few things more deadly than resentment. Why?
Resentment slowly rewrites the story of what happened so that your wound becomes the lens through which you interpret everything.
A vivid example of resentment can be found in the parable of the prodigal son from the Bible.
The older son saw himself as the victim of the story. He was saying: I’ve stayed. I’ve slaved. I’ve never disobeyed! Yet, he felt the father didn’t care about him, and only cared about the younger son.
Basically, he was inferring to the father that: all you care about is the fact that I’m here.
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This is why resentment is so deadly. Resentment is what happens to us when we let one chapter become the title of the whole book.
When something painful happens, very very painful! It deserves a paragraph, sometimes — it may deserve a chapter. However, resentment turns it into — this is my story. You say: I’m not just remembering what happened, I’m letting it narrate who I am.
When you read an interesting autobiography, you would find that the good and bad times are woven and integrated into various chapters in the book. But, resentment canonizes the bad things. Resentment turns the bad chapter into a monument. Infact, resentment names the book after your wound.
To guard against resentment, let us be guided by Ephesians 4:31–32
“Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).
And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.”
Selah.
