Taking It to Work:
I had a boss at work when I just started as a young engineer; he actually was my boss’s, boss’s boss and was way up the chain in my department. He was my senior by about twenty years, and was the meanest, most arrogant, power-abusing manager I have ever experienced, to this day. He used to relish in firing people, making you feel uncomfortable with his shocking and unprofessional comments, and would on a regular basis make his super-sweet receptionist cry. I would hear him from his corner office berating and belittling almost daily.
To make it worse, he was one of the five or so who interviewed me in getting the job, and was the only dissenting voice in offering me the job. So when I was hired, it was against his wishes. Without too much more detail, his constant bullying of me and others, finally drove me to leave that company, with quite a few undeserved wounds bleeding on the way out.
There is an old saying, “The same oven that the purifies the gold, hardens the clay.” I’m not sure where I heard that many decades ago, but it fits so well with today’s scriptures, and the fact we have a new year coming up.
God knows that unforgiveness can destroy us. He knows our heart of flesh can become hardened and lifeless if wounds we have received are not allowed to heal, and they will never heal with the unforgiving mind tearing those wounds open again and again. Jesus himself stated to Peter the extent we should forgive those who sin against us. He told all his disciples that we are to forgive others like we would like God to forgive us. And to leave us with an undeniable example, even after an unfair trial, an unearned beating, and in the midst of an undeserved crucifixion, without anyone anywhere asking forgiveness, He proclaims forgiveness to all who were purposely administering that torture. Underserving and unrepentant, but forgiven, by a Lord who could have destroyed them with a mere thought, with every right to do so, but didn’t, by a Lord whom we have promised to follow and emulate.
In the workplace, and everywhere else we look in the world, there are people who look out for only themselves – selfish to the core. Many times their actions and attitudes can create in us something very unholy. We may find ourselves wishing the worst for them, secretly hoping that “they get theirs”, and in the worst of cases, planning it. This mindset of hatred and bitterness is one that can fester and build over the years as more and more people make your “list”.
The Word of God is clear – we are not to harbor hate, but we are to love our enemies, and forgive their misdeeds. It’s hard work, sometimes it may seem impossibly hard, but it is what Jesus demonstrated for us, and then commanded us to do likewise. The new year gives us a fresh opportunity to wipe the slate clean.
Who is it that you need to pardon? Write them on the calendar for January 1st, and then get ready to forgive, and heal, as His Word works in you, today.
Eph 4:31 (ESV) – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV) – For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matt 18:21-22 (ESV) – Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Luke 23:34 (ESV) – And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):
He who harbors hatred, produces the same. Do not hold the offense. In vengeance there is no true recompense; damage within grows deeper with the retaliation. Release the offense as even I have for My children. Grace is the heart of those who refuse to harbor offense. My Spirit within the believer rejects what is not of God. To take offense is to join he who has fallen. Hatred fuels, and the mind rests not. Do not fall prey to he who hunts with the bait of wronged pride, for his quarry is the hardened heart, that of you who would otherwise love, but now wish for darker motion. Forgive those who trespass, those who trample on what is not theirs. It is My place for vengeance, but yours to forgive. He who holds the sin of others, holds also to his own. Release the bitter drink, that your face would not grow in pain, and that your heart would be free to again obey. Love as I have loved; forgive as I have forgiven you. Wince no more at what has passed, and release the wrongs that they will no longer poison. There is grieving in the heart of the Father, for His children continue in drink that poisons.
