WEEDING OUT THE POISONOUS ROOT OF BITTERNESS

Bitterness is known in the Bible as spiritual poison. It can be an unseen enemy, growing like a tumor in our mind and spirit. It can affect our mental and physical condition. It is easy to blame God and others and allow bitterness to take root in our hearts when things go wrong in our lives. We are given a warning in (Hebrews 12:15) NIV. ”See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no “bitter root” grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Bitterness works underneath the surface in people. It starts out as a small seed of hurt. This seed can grow fast and fester into a very dangerous thing. We can learn a valuable lesson from the weeds in our yard and garden. If the weeds are left alone when they first appear they will eventually grow out of control and take over the yard and garden. They will choke out the good plants. If bitterness is left alone, it will take control and wreak havoc in our lives. Like the weeds, bitterness has to be dealt with as soon as its roots appear in our hearts.

Bitterness is really when we harbor anger and un-forgiveness towards others. Even Christians can get hurt. Holding on to hurt is like grabbing a rattlesnake by the tail. We will get bitten. The poison from the rattlesnake can cause physical death. As the poison of bitterness spreads through our personality, spiritual death will occur. The way we deal with our hurt makes all the difference in the world. If that hurt is not handled in the right way, bitterness will take root in our spirit. In the end it will be “bitterness” and not “being hurt” that will destroy us. There is no joy, no creativity and no positive power flowing through our lives if we become full of bitterness. Bitterness can cause physical problems. In his book, “None of These Diseases,” S.I. McMillan says, “Anger, left alone, will show itself in at least 50 diseases.” Dr. Norman Wright, a professor of psychology at Biola University in California and a Christian writer agrees with McMillan.

We can become bitter against ourselves. This happens when we live in self-pity. We feel rejected, we wallow in self-pity and our self--image is poor. It may be because of some sin or failure in the past. We realize that if we had to do it over again, we wouldn’t do it for a million dollars. But we can’t “un-ring the bell.” So we go along in life nursing a grudge against ourselves. We soon learn that bitterness becomes a heavy burden and we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. We must accept the fact that we are not perfect and must learn to forgive ourselves. We need to “reject self-pity” and instead be quick to give thanks for “all the blessings” in our lives.

Forgiveness is liberating. Things will occur when the forgiveness process is complete. Harsh feelings may be replaced by feelings of love, concern or empathy towards those who have hurt us. Our negative feelings will disappear. We will find it much easier to accept the people who have hurt us without feeling the need to try and change them. Our concern about the needs of other individuals will outweigh our concerns about what they did to us. Un-forgiveness is devastating to our spiritual, emotional and physical health. However, emotional and physical life. Forgiveness is for our benefit, “forgiveness” brings health to our spiritual and this is good news!