Bitterness

I can’t get rid of the maple tree that grows up inside of my rhododendron bush. Every year it makes its presence known. Every year I cut it back to the ground. Every year it comes back because I’ve not dealt with the root. That nasty root just keeps giving life to that tree. Maybe that’s why we are told in Hebrews 12:15 to “see to it…that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” Unless bitterness is dealt by the root it will defile us and it will defile everyone around us.

Bitterness has a root. There was an incident, there were words said, there was a betrayal; something happened that planted a seed of bitterness in our hearts. Bitterness, unless dealt with immediately, begins to grow. Paul gives kind of a roadmap for this aggressive root in Ephesians 4:31; “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Bitterness turns into wrath which is a settled and fixed anger in my life towards something or someone. Wrath gives way to anger, an inner rage that keeps me hot. Anger gives way to clamor which means the screams that come from a wounded person. Clamor gives way to slander, abusive and hurting language. Finally, slander gives way to malice, the desire to injure somebody and get back at them. How quickly bitterness can turn our whole life into something ugly.

Bitterness never stays small or controllable, it always seeks to branch out and do as much harm as possible. It first hurts us and then it hurts others. Our bitter tale turns us into the kind of people that nobody else wants to be around and it turns us into the kind of people that hurt others.

Bitterness must be met with a strong and radical medicine that will be difficult to swallow but will immediately begin the healing process. The medicine is forgiveness. We are to look straight into the thing that has hurt us so deeply and release it with forgiveness - the same kind of forgiveness that Jesus offered you at the cross. Then we are to seek forgiveness ourselves for ever allowing a bitter spirit to dwell inside of us. Finally we are to declare through Jesus name that we are free from that thing ever dominating our life again. It is hard but we must do it.