Weeding Out Bitterness

    A woman gave her testimony recently, beginning with how her father had left their family when she was a young child to marry an 18 year old woman he had met through his work. Her story was a great reminder of how bitterness can consume our lives. This woman had several terrible loses in her life, including many deaths of family members and friends through various accidents. But the one thing, that seemed to caused her the most grief, was her father walking away from her and her family via divorce. 

    In our reading this morning, my husband read the Our Daily Bread devotional for today and the following scriptures spoke to this idea, "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright. Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:9-12). Sin leads to death, whether it's death of a relationship, good health, physical life, or eternal life. Sins breaks down what God meant for good in our lives, and brings an end to that aspect of our lives and sometimes death in the lives of others. We don't live in cocoons. What we do or don't do has an impact on those in our spheres of influence. Making amends for our sins, brings new life and opportunities, as it did for this woman when she forgave her father and they were reunited after many years of separation. 

    The Bible tells us, in John 3:16 that, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." God forgave us our sins, and most importantly, gave us His only Son to pay retribution for our sins so we can have life in heaven one day. Now, that is a step of forgiveness! The Bible also reminds us that once we have chosen Christ Jesus are our Savior and Lord, that nothing and no one can separate us from His love, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Romans 8:35-39 NIV). 

   Only we can keep ourselves from living in the fullness of the love of God. One way to do that is through not accepting God's forgiveness of our sins, and accepting His Son, as Savior and Lord. But another way, once we are saved, to not live in His love, is to live in bitterness and unforgiveness. A root of bitterness can run deep and grow throughout generations if not intentionally dealt with and weeded out of our lives. Grace is often defined as the undeserved and unmerited favor of God. If we, as sinners, can receive such grace in abundance from God, we can most certainly give a bit away to those that we believe have caused our bitterness. Take a moment to look away from yourself and look at the cross of Christ. He could have been bitter toward us for causing Him all the pain we caused Him with our sin, but He forgave us all our sins, if only we will believe in Him. 

 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)