Bitterness

There's a popular saying, "You can choose to be bitter or better".  I chose to write about bitterness because of a scripture that jumped off the page as I was reading God's word this morning.  Hebrews 12: 14-15 "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." 

Let's start first with where this bitter root stems from (I had to laugh at that play on words - ha-ha).  Bitterness means "anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment".  One writer I read said bitterness is Satan's seeds.  He will take your frustrations with life and then turn them around for his purposes.  There are a number of things we can become bitter about in our lives.  Sometimes it might be the smaller details in life such as daily frustrations or it might be more serious events that rock our world.  Whatever might cause your heart to allow bitterness toward others or even God, you must hit it head on.  When you open the door of your heart and invite it in, you welcome heartache and trouble.  How do we steer ourselves in the opposite direction?  When bitterness knocks and you find you have allowed it into your heart, introduce it to prayer.  God desires for each of us to have peace and this seed of Satan will rob you of any peace.  As we read in Ephesians 4:31 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice" and in Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." 

God's word directs us to a better way of life.  Bitterness can hurt our relationship with the Lord, open the door to the enemy, scar each of us personally and hurt others.  When you read this today, I pray you won't think of others who you think might harbor resentment. I pray you will only examine your own heart and make every effort to seek contentment.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."