Avoid BITTERNESS & ANGER at all costs. Today, as we study here at this DLinc classroom in Ontario, we get Christ's most pointed warning! Jesus just told believers that we would trap ourselves in the prison house and find ourselves in solitary confinement, tortured by the poisonous and sharp cutting edge of bitterness if we hold onto an unforgiving spirit that always leads to bitterness.
Bitterness Leads to Intense Inner Torment
Jesus said that we hand ourselves over to the torturers (v. 34) when we embitter our hearts against someone. Those who live in the gall of bitterness imprison themselves in an emotional concentration camp and become the victims of immense internal torment.
Nurturing bitterness is as foolish as drinking poison or diving into a dark pit. Our refusals to forgive wall us into solitary confinement and bitterness becomes our tormentor. Jesus warns that any believer is a candidate for this unspeakable emotional and mental torment when bitterness-producing un-forgiveness is practiced.
Do you see now why Paul lists bitterness first in the lineup of Spirit grievers? Do you see why he says “Put away ALL bitterness”? He says it is so deadly, so painful, so quick to spread that it must be dealt with right away.
A bitter person is cut and punctured by the words or actions of others. Those wounds untreated by the healing grace of a tender-hearted, forgiving attitude become a source of malignant poison. So this wound infects the wounded person with bitterness, a hurtful condition that touches every part of their life. As Hebrews 12 warns us, bitterness spreads throughout a person’s life until everything in them gets defiled by bitterness.
One of the telltale signs of being hindered in living out our grace-energized roles is when we feel “hurt” by others. Those hurts can quickly get infected and become resentful feelings which always grow into bitterness.
Say NO to Bitterness Daily
· Bitterness imprisons a believer’s emotions. Failing to forgive another will imprison a believer in their past. Bitterness nurtures pain and keeps it alive, never allowing the wound to heal. The longer the hurt is dwelt upon, the more our anger is fed, resentment grows, and joy is extinguished. Forgiveness energized by grace opens our prison doors and sets us free from our past.
· Bitterness poisons a believer’s life. Bitterness is not just a sin; it is an infection that poisons our speech making it biting, cutting, sarcastic, and slanderous. Bitterness poisons our emotions making them violent, unpredictable, intolerant, vengeful, and ungodly. Bitterness poisons all relationships making them void of affection, devoid of love, and emptied of kindness. The writer of Hebrews warns, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled” (Heb. 12:15). Forgiveness energized by grace replaces bitterness with love, joy, peace, and the other fruits of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23).
· Bitterness opens believer’s lives to Satan. When Paul similarly charged the Corinthians he again joins Satan’s destructive influence upon believers who leave open this strategic door.
