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You must not take revenge. You must not bear a grudge against the members of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18, EHV

Why do we hold grudges? They never make us feel good and rarely do any harm to the person against whom we carry them. I have never seen the anger of a grudge cause the other person to suffer. God knows this. He gave these words to Moses and then repeated them as our Lord walked with us. Wanting revenge and holding a grudge makes it difficult to pray, particularly for the other and it fills up our minds. We are called to love ourselves and others in the same way. Jesus reminds us of this when He called us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. Love. It is a hard word to comprehend. The more we hold against others the less love we can feel in ourselves and the less we can give to others. God created us and desired us to know that we are His and the same is true for our neighbor. He doesn’t always look at us with anger, He sacrificed Himself for us.  He didn’t do this for us to feel guilty, but to set us free and let the bondage of sin be broken. As we realize ours, we can know His forgiveness and repent of that sin. The cost of forgiveness is not our repentance, but our Lord’s blood shed for us on the Cross. As we lay it all down and feel the fullness of His love, we may love our neighbor more fully and know our Lord’s peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.