In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul dealt with several problems troubling the peace of the church at Ephesus. Jonathan Harter examines the subject of bitterness. Bitterness is a sinful reaction to sorrow, particularly when the sorrow is caused by someone close to us.
Sorrow is not sinful. It is the unavoidable experience of an emotional wound; scripture tells us Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet Christ was not bitter, whereas we all too often are. All sorrow confronts us with a choice between two divergent responses: lay the cause and the pain at God’s feet, or become embittered.
Bitterness can easily become habitual. Max Lucado said, “Resentment is the cocaine of emotions.” Resentment, a contemporary label for bitterness, has a powerful, physical impact. Bitterness can and does ensnare many of God’s people in all-consuming preoccupation with the injury or offense that occasioned it, sapping energy, vitality, and joy.
In his first recorded public utterance in the temple, Christ read Isaiah’s prophecy of His coming to bring “deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised…” (Luke 4:18). Jesus Christ came to save us from the bondage of bitterness. That salvation is one that we must know of, and must act to receive. We must “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal 5:1). Christ is the cure for bitterness.
We must not fail to seek that cure. Bitterness is a root (Heb 12:15). Left to grow and mature, it bears evil fruit: anger, wrath, malice. It ruins health and destroys relationships. We must choose not to be bitter, and follow the scriptural course to root it out. Uncover the offense hidden in the heart; face the cause honestly. Forgive the offense for Christ’s sake, leaving it at the feet of Christ in prayer. Lay hold on the freedom Christ purchased for all His children, and serve Him with joy restored.
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