Dear Saints. Why is it that I often meet Christians who are often in bondage to bitterness? Bitterness is serious because it is the one symptom that causes many Christians to be defiled.
Hebrews 12:15 "looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up to trouble you, and thereby many be defiled".
I looked up a number of definitions describing the word "defiled" and some of those words include: corrupt; pollute; debase; spoil; filthy, marred and even describes sewage, which is hardly anything close to what the Bible tells us that we should be the sweet fragrance and aroma of Christ (2 Cor 2:15). Therefore, we are hardly anything close to being like Christ when we allow ourselves to remain bitter. I never noticed it earlier until now, but when you read the last part of Heb 12:15, it mentions about many becoming defiled. Therefore, when one person is bitter, it often tends to have a rippling effect on many others to be defiled because bad company corrupts good character (1 Cor 15:33), which often infects many Christians especially when we should have the wisdom to know better. That is why the Lord tells us not to associate with a hot tempered man lest you become like him (Prov 22:24). It is important to know that we should have a positive effect on people before we allow them to infect our Godly character that we should maintain.
When I consider and ask why there are those who are either easily embittered or remain in bitterness, I wanted to do some research as to what the root of the problem is. Often times, the result of bitterness starts with anger and when people continue to fester in their thoughts with anger and not quickly deal with it, this is anger gone sour. Anger in itself when being angry against evil is not sin in itself, because Jesus got angry, but yet did not sin. However, He didn't continue to feed on His anger, but allowed his anger to be only manifested at that given point in time for that specific purpose when those who were selling and trading in Gods temple rather than honoring His temple as a place of prayer. He did not allow Himself to continue to further carry this anger within Himself. I believe some of the root causes for Christians to develop bitterness are as follows:
a) Failing to trust in Gods Care for us. When Christians should surrender by knowing that God cares for us and is able to give us a better life, we often fail to see His love and care for us that we feel that we need to be in control. Often times, people with control issues often get angry when things don't go their way because they want to remain in control rather than being controlled by the One who truly does love us and is able to care for us better then we could ever do. We end up becoming our own "gods" rather than surrendering ourselves to the True Living God who does love and care exceedingly for us. When we feel the need to control, we fail to believe in the One to take care of our every needs when He wants to take careful control of our lives.
b) Failing to know who the real enemy is. This is often the result when Christians become offended, of which many remain bitter because they fail to see how the enemy uses people to come against themselves. When we realize that our oppressors are simply a victim of the real enemy himself (satan), we would stop feeling sorry for ourselves and feel sorry for them because of the severe consequences they are going to face because of their evil actions. When our oppressors come against Gods people, they actually come against God Himself who is going to require an account. This is the difference from having worldly sorrow and having Godly sorrow (2 Cor 7:10). One brings forth death, while the other brings forth life. Worldly sorrow stems from having that "woe is me" attitude because we are feeling sorry for ourselves and we carry that hurt rather then seeing our oppressors as the real victim. The result of this also is developing a spirit of unforgiveness which is a real trick of the enemy because we end up seeing other people as our enemies and fail to see satan and his emissaries as the real enemies of mankind.
c) Fail to see that God is a Just God. When people remain bitter and develop that spirit of bitterness, they fail to see that our God is not only a loving God, but He is a God of Justice who demands holiness. For the foundation of His Throne is based on Mercy and Justice (Psalm 89:14). When we see how our God is a Just God, don't you think that He will require an account of people? He also says encourages us to not seek vengeance, because vengeance belongs to God (Rom 12:19). When people remain bitter towards others who have offended us and we allow the offence to fester within us, we are really telling God that He needs our assistance and we end up believing that God is not a God of Justice. If we know the truth of God who will require an account from the actions of anyone, that should cause us to feel sorry for those who come against Gods people rather than being in bondage having bitterness towards them. When we know the Love and Justice of our God, there will never be a reason for anyone to develop bitterness, which does nothing but ruin and defile ourselves.
d) Failing to forgive ourselves. This is a result of failing to believe in the Grace of God for ourselves personally. Failing to believe the magnificent truth of His unmatched love for each of us personally. When we often fail or do wrong, we feel like we have to justify ourselves by feeling condemned which is nothing but a trick of the enemy who wants to keep you in bondage by believing this lie. When we fail to forgive ourselves, we are telling God that we don't believe His loving Grace and mercy. For He says that He is just and faithful to forgive us of our sins when we repent (1 John 1:9). When we don't forgive ourselves, we are also telling God that His Grace is not good enough for us, so we feel we are justified by remaining guilty and condemned. For He tells us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1)
Everything that God teaches us is always for our ultimate benefit that is the result of being liberated and free from every bondage that will keep us from ever having true peace, joy and fulfillment in life. Believing otherwise is remaining in bondage which the devil wants you to believe by failing to see Gods perfect love, mercy and justice for us. When we realize that developing bitterness is the cause of these symptoms and how we become defiled is a poor representative of Christ, we will want to do all we can to avoid ourselves from becoming defiled and avoid being infected by those who do carry a spirit of bitterness within themselves because this is what ends up defiling many. The verse mentioned before Heb 12:15 is what we need to purse to avoid ourselves becoming defiled.
Heb 12:14-15 - Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.
Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God's grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it--
With the help of His Spirit, we can know that we are not unaware of the devils schemes.
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In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com
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