“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Ephesians 4:31
In one sense bitterness can be said to be like cancer. It eats away at the person who is filled with it. It sucks the joy and love out of his soul. But cancer may not be the best analogy, because while cancer is not contagious, bitterness most certainly is.
The writer of Hebrews recognizes how bitterness moves rapidly from heart to heart when he writes, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:15). The word used for “bitterness” is pikria, which can also mean “poison.” In the body of Christ, that is exactly what bitterness is. It poisons and defiles the whole body.
Get ten joyful Christians together, bring one bitter person in among them, and watch how this one can pull the others down and suck the life out of the group. And as the writer of Hebrews points out, it only takes a root of bitterness to do damage, because a bitter root always grows. And this may be why Paul says, “Get rid of all bitterness,” because even in its incipient form, it is a spiritual arsenic that will destroy both the carrier and those whom he defiles.
In my observation, bitterness is one of the greatest dangers for disciples. We may have dealt with the outward sins, but after some disappointments in the church, some pain caused by someone else’s lack of consideration, or because of some dream that was dashed, the root of bitterness can appear. Perhaps at first it is almost microscopic in form, but that’s all it takes. No matter how small its beginning, bitterness will grow if we do not deal with it. We may still be reading our Bibles, still praying, still seen in the fellowship. We may even still be reaching out to the lost. But something insidious is happening. The body of Christ is slowly being poisoned. This is no minor matter. It is the most serious of sins, and this is why Paul says to “get rid of it all.” We must get down to the very roots of it and rid our hearts of it completely .
Wow, I saw this in teaching the 3 year old class yesterday how one child who is out of control poisons all the other happy children. Amen to that! We need to nip bitterness in the bud.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this quick mind change moment. Sometimes when I'm rushing to get the kids out it's hard to sit down for a full quiet time on a Monday morning.
How can I detect whether I am bitter or not? What kind of signs and symptoms will clue me to what I may be bitter about?
ReplyDeleteI have recently just dealt with this in my own heart. I know that there is bitterness in my heart toward someone when I have ill feelings when I see them or think about them. I don't feel peace. This is the very thing that Satan uses to truly destroy relationships in the church and we need to be on our guard always.
DeleteHi Tom. Bitterness is ugly and hurtful and can be very scary. Lets let go of the sin and hold onto His peace. Love one another Jesus says to us over and over again.
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