Bitterness and hate will eat you up like cancer.
“Pursue peace will all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it” -Hebrews 12:14-15
God is love and the farthest you can get from Him is hate. Hate is a destructive force working inside against us. It hurts us more than the one we hate. We are in bondage to the one we hate. Jesus came to set us free from all sin and all that hurts our relationship with the Father. Bitterness in the heart turns into hate. God has provided us with a path to win in life and enjoy life. Hate will not take us there. Love will!
There are places we can chop hate off at the root before it takes hold of us. It usually starts with anger. Anger comes from being hurt. We might find ourselves saying, “No, Im just mad.” But probably someone hurt us. Here’s the place where we can stop hate from entering our hearts. Don’t hold onto the hurt or become offended by it. Give it to God, Jesus said,
“Cast your cares upon Me, because I care for you” -1 Peter 5:7
Let Him have them. God says, “Vengeance is mine.”
If we hold on to the offense and hurt, the next step is forgiveness, if we don’t it messes with our relationship with God. Jesus teaches us,
“If we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us” -Mark 11:24
There’s a prayer in Matthew known as “The Lord‘s Prayer,
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever. Amen” – Matthew 6:9-13
Jesus did not mince words. He means what He says. And that forgiveness is in words and actions. You may not trust the person you have forgiven yet. You may wisely not put yourself in the position for them to hurt you. You may need personal space or distance for a while. Trust takes time. However you are not to be bitter against them.
If you see trouble by the side of the road, will you stop and help them or move away on your way from them when trouble is over because they have not proven to be trustworthy yet and weakness causes them to stumble easily? Just because we forgive, doesn’t mean we forget.
When we stop unforgiveness we stop the path to hate. After the hurt and being offended and unforgiveness set the next step is bitterness. Bitterness eats us up inside. We become slaves to the person we don’t forgive or have bitterness towards. The person we are bitter towards may be doing fine. Perhaps they are going on with their life not concerned about what they did to you or maybe asked God for forgiveness.
Either way, bitterness will eat you up like cancer. It will attack your health and cause stress, which is bad for the heart and the brain. It’s also bad for your soul. Here’s the place to cut off your path to hate. Root out or release this bitterness to God before it takes such a deep hold in you, and begins to take you down.
I held on to anger and bitterness for years, and it nearly took my life. Heart issues, cancer, digestive issues, depression, anxiety.
We are no match to satan and the bitterness he offers. Bitterness brings our soul to a low place where stress enters and takes a toll on our spirits, souls, and body. We are not hurting the other person, we only hurt ourselves. The other person has to deal with their attitude and heart before God.
Hate leads to rebellion. 1 Samuel 15:23 says that rebellion is a sin, a form of witchcraft. It has an evil effect. We rebel against others, we rebel against God’s instruction. I rebelled against alcohol, drugs, and sex. It felt good at the moment with my flesh, but I was tortured later with my thoughts. Yet I still camped there for years. I was angry, disobedient, and in rebellion. Life goes on and I was not favored by God in my rebellion. This was a place where I could have cut off the path to hate that satan desired me to be on. It was hard for me since I allowed my anger and bitterness to fester, at this point, I was just trying to numb the pain that I let take root in me.
I was thankful I woke up and chose to give up all the anger, bitterness, and pain that I allowed to take hold of me. There is no joy and peace when hate is present. Hate kills. Live brings life.
Hate kills our souls. It not only causes people to kill others but us. Hate is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
We can choose to forgive and our feelings will catch up later. Whatever others have done to us it’s not worth messing up a relationship with our Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven is the One will we answer to. So, release anger, bitterness, and pain to Him. So, it’s already handled and we can work on pleasing God. They weight on your shoulders will be lifted.
In James 2:13 God lets us know,
“Judgment will be merciless to the one who shows no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment.”
So it is to our advantage to show mercy. Mercy means we do not get what we deserve. We can freely receive mercy from Jesus when we do not deserve it. Freely received freely give.
We do not deserve mercy, but Jesus gave it on the cross when He took our sins and asked for our forgiveness.
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do” -Luke 23:24
All we have to do is ask for forgiveness and forgive others.
From Pity to Praise 