Bitterness. What is your first thought? An unpleasant taste? Maybe. The Word tells us that to be sure no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble. (Hebrews 12:15). Bitterness has a dangerous root and produces poison fruit.
Now I know I usually write uplifting things. And we will get to that. I promise. But like one of my favorite verses "Where no oxen is the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox" (Proverbs 14:4) which has a literal meaning of 'you have to wade thru the manure to get to the milk', we will do a little wading first.
Ever know someone who just couldn't see what they were doing was wrong? Perhaps they even justify their actions because someone wronged them. They might even write off a whole group of people because of something that happened to them. How about the man who uses women? Look at his childhood. Was there an issue with the amount of love his mom gave him? How about the woman who sleeps with men other than her husband? Was she abused by her father or some other male family member? Without intervention, kids who grow up in these situations will become bitter. What's the root? Something that happened in his/her childhood that wasn't dealt with.
If that root is allowed to grow, it produces fruit. The bitter person may be happy at times. But seems anything can set them off. They may look normal on the outside but trouble is brewing on the inside. Often the bitter person is overly critical of others, especially those closest to them like their spouse or children. While a bitter person may appear happy, that root runs deep and so does the trouble within. The fruit produced from that root often defiles others and many, many times leads to immorality. After all, if the bitter person was abused or unloved, that's where the root began and of course they are going to produce the same type of fruit they experienced as children. And even more unfortunately they knowingly or unknowingly pass along this same bitterness to their own kids.
Now here's where the sweet part comes in. There is an answer to bitterness. It's about becoming conscious of our actions. It's about forgiveness. Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Forgiveness. Forgiveness is sweet. True, from the heart forgiveness.
When we think of forgiveness it seems we always focus on the one being forgiven. But let's focus for a moment on the bitter person who chooses to forgive. Forgiving quickly after an offense will not allow bitterness to even take root. But what about that person who has been bitter for a long time? That takes some work. It takes some faith. When the bitter person repents and gets serious about conquering bitterness, with God, all things are possible! It may take some time for the bitter person to become 'sweet', but obeying the Word and forgiving past hurts can and WILL change the future for that formerly bitter person.
Will this person be completely new? Yes! Will the devil bring up those past hurts and try to stir up bitterness. Yes he will. But the more forgiveness is practiced and past hurts are remembered with forgiveness instead of bitterness, healing will not only begin, it will prevail!
How do you kill the root of bitterness? How do you prevent bitterness from growing and continuing to the next generation? Forgiveness. Bitterness is absolutely killed with forgiveness. Sweet forgiveness
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