The Root of Bitterness

by Rocky Fleming

Day 5: The Escape  

“Do not quench the Spirit.”  I Thessalonians 5:19 (ESV)

I believe that when things are right with God and man, there is a holy rhythm to life.  There is a healthy connection vertically with God through His Spirit and there are healthy connections horizontally with the people in our life, thereby bringing balance to our life.  Sounds like the form of the cross doesn’t it, being both vertical and horizontal, with Christ in the center?  So it makes sense that all believers at the foot of the cross are all equal with need and hope.  The playing field is totally leveled with the truth that without Christ, we are all lost with no hope. 

 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him – Isaiah 53:6 NASB  

We all have that in common.  All of us fall short of God’s glory, so He sent His Son to enable us to join His family.  All Christians have our lost-ness and salvation in common.  There is no difference, and there are no better or worse people being saved from our lost condition.  We all start out lost, no matter where our personal goodness falls.  We have that in common with each other.  I know it sounds strange, but with salvation, even though there are people that you know who are much worse than you are, both of you enter your relationship as lost and estranged from God.  This person and you had to enter your relationship with God through His grace and not His justice.  If it was His justice, no matter how good you are, you would be shut out of His kingdom, just like the serial offender you think of as worse than you.  You need God’s grace and not His justice.  You are saved by God’s grace and not the Law.  That is the essence of the Gospel. 

Why is this important that we nail this down if it pertains to our escape from bitterness?  It will reveal a major lack of application of the truth with how you understand how you are loved by Christ, and how, with His love you are to love another person.  If bitterness is to leave you, you must escape from your illusion of your good nature and your offender’s evil nature, for you are not seeing something essential to help you escape it.  

Here is why: Your bitterness is rooted in your pride.  Your pride has been hurt.  Therefore, you harbor bitterness because you think you deserve better.  This condition is rooted in self-pity and self-pity is a sign that Satan has your ear.  This self-pity causes you to want justice to be served on your adversary and you want it to be hot and heavy for you are mad and hurt.  When we are bitter, we think justice needs to be served for we have been treated unjustly.  So let’s go with that.  Do we really want justice to be served in order for bitterness to be eradicated?  Really?  Are we also ready to be given justice for our sins against Holy God instead of His grace?  Are we ready to apply the same rules to ourself that we apply to others about justice or grace?  Kind of stings now, doesn’t it?  Good, for if it stings you are beginning to identify the truth of how far you have been pulled from the Gospel because of your root of bitterness.  

To escape the root of bitterness that has you by the throat, it needs to start with an evaluation and application of the Gospel to your life, and then obey Christ with giving forgiveness, even though it may be undeserved.  When you see how far you’ve strayed from the Gospel and with living it out toward this person or circumstance that has embittered you, you can find motivation for expelling it from your life.  When you do, this balance with God and man will return to your life and the root and fruit of bitterness will be history.  Make it history my friend.  It’s time for it to go and for you to escape its tentacles of evil.