Two Ways to Handle Resentment

Have you ever been taken advantage of? Manipulated?  Unappreciated, like all you get from loved ones are a few occasional crumbs? Do you feel you work harder than others for the same reward, or less?

Those thoughts are where resentment comes from. And if we’re honest, we’ve all thought some of those things before. So how do you handle resentment? 

Let’s examine two ways people typically do it. 

You encounter a problem, you look down, and you look around at other people. You deal with it in the flesh. You may say, “I’m just being practical. I’m just being down to earth with this problem, with this challenge, with this resentment.” That’s horizontal living.

When resentment comes, you look up and above. You seek God and His input and His understanding to give you perspective when resentment enters your life.

So, are you a horizontal person or a vertical person? 

When you feel overlooked, passed over, or taken advantage of, do you take matters into your own hands? Do you lash out in anger to get revenge on those who’ve wronged you? 

Or do you look up and seek God’s wisdom, His grace, asking Him to help you forgive those who have wronged you, just as God has forgiven you?

May we all seek to live as vertical people in a world filled with horizontal thinking.