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April 14 – Releasing Resentment · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:02
  Welcome back to the Daily Ripples podcast.
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  I am Pastor Mike, and we are still missing our normal co-host, Corey, today, but we have
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  with us again, Larry.
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  And Larry, for April 14th, we're going to start off today by having you read our Daily Ripple
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  devotional for the day and see where our conversation goes.
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  So Larry, if you would.
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  Absolutely, and thank you.
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  So for April the 14th, the title of the Daily Ripple is Releasing Resentment.
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  And the stone is this, resentment quietly poisons the soul.
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  When I replay old injuries, I keep the wound alive and allow bitterness to shake my heart.
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  Ripple 1 is practical.
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  It says, today I will notice where resentment is lingering.
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  Instead of rehearsing the offense, I will choose to release it.
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  I may not be able to change the past, but I can stop feeding the anger that keeps it alive.
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  Ripple 2 is spiritual.
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  As I follow Christ's path of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit clears the darkness resentment creates.
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  The Father's light reaches places once overshadowed by anger.
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  Over time, letting go becomes freedom, and peace grows where bitterness once lived.
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  When I hear today's Daily Ripple, it says releasing resentment, but the flip side of that for me is forgiveness.
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  And I think that we'll, you know, in tomorrow's episode a little bit, you know, we'll talk about, you know, it's called stepping out of resentment.
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  So they're very closely aligned.
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  And as Corey has mentioned, you know, recently on the podcast, it's because the Daily Ripples, of course, are based on AA's Daily Reflections, and AA's Daily Reflections kind of followed by month, the step, you know, in the 12 steps.
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  And step four is where we made a searching and complete moral inventory of ourselves.
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  And part of that inventory process, as the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous finds it out, is one of the first things that we do is we set up, you know, three columns on a page, if you will, and the first column is we list out all of our resentments, you know, all the things that we're angry about.
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  And, you know, and then as we work through that step four, we go through the process of releasing those resentments and turning it over to God and realizing what our part was in those resentments and things like that.
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  But as I think about this one in particular, I think about how I just really wish that everybody could understand how powerful it is whenever you're able to release those resentments.
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  You know, sometimes, you know, people can hold on to their favorite resentments, their bitterness, and it's almost like a comfort to them, you know, and they've held it for so long that they don't even know how to start letting it go.
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  As a fellow pastor, Larry, I'm curious, like, if you have a parishioner that comes in and they're just really upset and angry and bitter about something that's happened in their past,
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  what kind of coaching or guidance do you give them, you know, based upon, you know, kind of the scriptural call in this area?
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  Well, there's a wonderful story in the Gospel of John in chapter 20, when the resurrected Christ appears to the disciples.
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  and the disciples have locked themselves away in a room.
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  In the scripture, it says for fear of the Judeans,
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  for fear of the authorities.
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  And so they're trapped in this place of fear
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  and lack of understanding.
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  I'm sure that they're angry at the authorities
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  for arresting Jesus,
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  the Jewish authorities for arresting Jesus,
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  the Roman authorities for crucifying Jesus, I'm sure there's some anger and resentment amongst themselves,
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  because many of the disciples abandoned Jesus in the couple of days leading up to the cross,
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  and none of them were there except maybe some of the women, but none of the men and none of the main disciples were there during the crucifixion.
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  And then you take a character like Peter.
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  I'm sure he has, you know, I carry some resentments towards myself, the way I've treated myself.
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  And he had denied Jesus three times.
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  And so we've entered this space.
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  Jesus comes and speaks peace.
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  And the last thing Jesus does before he leaves the room is he breathes upon them the breath of the Holy Spirit.
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  And Eugene Peterson, who wrote the message, the translation of the Bible known as the message,
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  He has a wonderful way of describing this gift of the Holy Spirit.
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  Jesus says, if you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good.
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  If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?
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  Which to me says, why would I want to carry around someone else's sin?
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  If someone else has done harm to me, if someone else has done something that I hold a resentment toward,
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  it could well be that they've worked that out with God, and they've received forgiveness, and they've moved on from that.
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  And if I hold on to it, I'm just carrying around their trash, right?
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  I'm carrying around their luggage.
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  There was an older fellow that I knew, and he used to say, life is like a train trip.
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  It depends on what direction you're headed, who your traveling companions are, and how much baggage you're carrying.
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  Well, I certainly don't want to carry somebody else's baggage through life.
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  And that's kind of the way I see resentments, that you're right, it brings to mind forgiveness, absolutely.
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  Yeah, and I also think about one of the things that I've heard in the rooms of recovery quite often is that if I'm holding resentments against another person, I'm holding them prisoner in my own mind.
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  But I'm also locked in that cell with them because I'm the jailer.
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  You know, there's two people that are in the prison cell, if you will.
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  There's the jailer or, to be PC in today's world, the corrections officer or the CO.
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  And then, you know, there's the prisoner, the one being held, you know.
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  And so I'm not doing it.
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  I'm not releasing those resentments against other people always for them in particular.
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  It starts with I release them for myself because those resentments are what keep me sick.
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  You know, they keep me focused on the negative aspects of life.
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  And, man, I think back to even as early as childhood, you know, my parents and my mother telling me, you know,
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  be careful who your friends are, be careful what you listen to, you know, be careful what you watch,
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  you know, things like that. And, of course, that was coming from, you know, trying to teach a child
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  perspective. But the wisdom and the truth of that is that if I am filling my mind with negative things,
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  whether that's negative friends, negative, you know, music, movies, what have you, then my brain
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  is going to tend to react negatively to situations in life versus if I'm filling my soul and my spirit
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  it with positive things and things that come from a place of love and from a place of understanding,
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  from a place of forgiveness, then over time, that's going to retrain my brain to operate in
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  that way. And when I get bogged down into resentments, you know, because it says in the
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  practical ripple that today I'll notice where resentment is lingering, and instead of rehearsing
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  the offense, I'll choose to release it. But I guess, you know, for me and for some, you know,
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  you may read that and say, well, how do I release it? You know, how do I do that? Well, for me,
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  the ways that I have when I start to get into that resentment mode is I'll listen to, you know,
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  some gospel music, you know, or I'll listen to, you know, an uplifting thing, or I'll watch something,
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  you know, positive, or I'll, like I've mentioned before, you know, I
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  best ways, though, to get out of resentment is when I, you know, pick up a phone and check on
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  somebody, you know, either someone from church that hadn't been there in a week or two and then kind
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  of make one of those calls to check in on them or check in with one of the sponsees that I have in
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  recovery. And so I guess, you know, I was thinking along those lines of, you know, Larry, in your
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  line of work and in all the service that you do, you know, for the church and whatnot, I'm certain
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  that there are times when resentments creep up in your life, and how do you combat those?
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  Well, I have to start with forgiveness and recognizing the pain that I continue to cause
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  myself pain the longer I hold on to that. You know, they say that the person that we talk to
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  more than anyone else and the person that we listen to more than anyone else is ourselves, right?
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  And I can share that, you know, some deep-held resentments that affected my life.
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  And it wasn't my father's actions.
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  It was my reactions, responses to those actions that fueled my substance abuse.
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  I have to forgive my dad for some of those things every day.
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  Because I may forgive today, but tomorrow I feel it in my spirit where I've picked it up again.
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  And so I just have to keep saying it until it's true, until I've really let it go.
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  So, you know, they say sometimes you have to fake it till you make it.
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  That's exactly what I was thinking about.
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  Yeah, you just have to practice it.
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  And it is a practice.
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  It's not perfection by any sense.
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  For me, it's a practice, and it's a daily practice.
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  That's why in the recovery rooms we call it progress over perfection.
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  So, in other words, the important thing is that, and we take that concept of one day at a time,
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  because today is all that you or I have in front of us.
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  We could plan ahead for today.
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  We can set things up for today, but today is the day that we have to show up and we have to be active in our life.
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  And so taking it one day at a time, working on releasing those resentments every day, I mean, that's the whole deal, you know, in the 12 steps.
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  And I mean, we're called to do that, you know, in Scripture as well.
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  You know, in Ephesians 4, toward the end of the chapter, 31 and 32, and I'm going to summarize a little bit, but, you know, it says to get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger.
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  And then it closes by saying, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
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  And when I think about forgiving or releasing the resentments I have of others, it always
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  starts with my recognition and to pick up on what you were saying yesterday, my gratitude
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  about the forgiveness that's been given to me.
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  And when I truly think about how God has forgiven me for all of my past sins, indiscretions,
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  failures, faults, you know, whatever you want to call it, then if God can forgive me of all
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  those things, all the things that I know that I've done, then why can't I forgive somebody
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  who might have hurt my feelings about something.
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  And so that's ultimately where it comes back to for me.
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  Do you have any final thoughts, though, Larry, for our Daily Ripple on today?
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  No, you know, just like the princess sings in Frozen, let it go, right?
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  Let it go, let it go.
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  That's right, let it go. I like it.
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  And we will spare the audience by not launching the song and singing it.
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  But, Larry, if you would, close us out with our prayer for today.
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  Father, help me release the resentments I carry.
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  Through your Spirit, heal what has been wounded
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  and lead me to walk in the forgiving way of your Son.
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  Amen.
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  10th.