Issue 105
Have you noticed that when a person’s success is measured, the verb ‘to hold’ is often employed? We talk of holding down a job, holding positions of responsibility or those who gain high profile with good reputations are held in high regard. In a PLC the power resides with the share-holders whom the board has to satisfy. Even in smaller companies there are stake-holders and if you want to get a loan from your bank you would need to be a house-holder.
What we hold changes our lives. Key-holders and passport holders gain access as do permit-holders. If you hold degrees or qualifications they become keys and passports to progress and success.
There is one item which is more powerful than any or all of these mentioned so far and which you are capable of holding. Its impact on our working relationships is so immense as to cause everything else to pale into insignificance. Once held for any length of time it or they can change the course of a life, a career, a company or even a country. Anyone, however they are placed in an organisation, can hold these. I’m talking about grudges. To hold a grudge is to hold one of the most toxic, destructive and powerful substances known to humans. The longer it is held, the more powerful it gets. It eats away at the holder, poisons their relationships and imparts a devastating energy which is capable of widespread destruction. Holding a grudge can lead the holder to harness every other resource they hold in the cause of vindictive behaviour. It motivates a person to vengeance and recrimination, energised by the bitter fuel of hatred. People who hold grudges have set out to destroy other people’s careers, company reputations or whole industries. The greater the influence of the individual, the greater havoc they can wreak. Holding a grudge is like holding the blade of a knife: it cuts the holder as they seek to stab the other person.
It takes a great deal of strength to hold down a responsible post, hold qualifications or be held in respect. It takes even more strength to let go of a grudge. Opening the hand to let it fall is one of the greatest skills anyone can acquire. The teaching of the bible is so full of warnings against bitterness and for forgiveness, that it would not be inappropriate to label it a major theme. “Forgive,” says Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer and just after it. “Don’t keep a record of wrongs,”’ says Paul, and “hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs,” says Solomon.
But to find the highest expression of forgiveness you have to come to the cross. God the Father had been injured for millennia. God the Son had been shamefully placed on this cross. Jesus at work on the cross says, “Father forgive them” Forgiveness takes strength, it costs, it hurts and it changes everything. In this respect you can measure your success not by what you hold but what you let go.
John 19:25-27
25Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” 27and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 17:1-5
1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 2″Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began
Luke 11: 1-4
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: ” ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation
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Geoff Shattock
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