Jesus Makes Bitter Better.

As a couple exchanges their vows,( those vows include these words) for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, for better for worse.

It could also be said: for better or bitter. Or bitter or sweet.

Life just has some bitterness built into it. Everyone comes to bitter waters at some point in their lives. Possibly the loss of a loved one. Sickness, bankruptcy, divorce, false accusations, rejection, the list goes on, and on.

One of the things that we have to come to grips with and be honest about is that many times the bitter waters in our lives is just the operation of the law of sowing and reaping.

In other words we are reaping the fruit of wrong decisions, wrong actions, wrong attitudes, and wrong words.

Gal 6: Be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

Lvb Dont be misled; remember that you cant ignore God and get away with it.

Phillips Bible: Dont be under any illusion, you cannot make a fool of God. A mans harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows.

Lvb A man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows.

Simply put: Our lives are the product of the seeds we sow.

I understand that you may have been dealt a bad hand in life.

Your daddy was abusive, alcoholic, strung out on drugs, or you might not even know who your daddy is.

You may have been born on the wrong side of the tracks, raised in the projects, you didnt have any money.

You may not have had the opportunities others did.

Possibly you were rejected, disowned.

All of that may be true, but that is what happened to you, that is not who you are.

*You decide who you will be.

*Even the most dire of circumstances can be the tool that shapes the greatest life, it depends on how you face them, and how you respond to them.

*Decisions determine your destiny.

*Decisions have consequences.

*Your life is the product of your decisions.

*You dont decide your destiny, you discover it, however the decisions you make will determine whether or not you fulfill your destiny.

Every decision you make in your life will either move you closer to your destiny, or farther away from it.

Destiny is not an accident, it is a deliberate choice. You may stumble into favorable circumstances from time to time. But you wont stumble into your destiny. You will have to work, and fight, and sacrifice, and go through seasons of testing, and trials. You will have to allow yourself to be challenged, and you will have to go through seasons of changes.

The Bible says, the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Mt 11:12

There are so many people in the church who have assumed the attitude that God loves me just like I am, he doesnt try to change me, and so you shouldnt either. Well the truth is nothing could be farther from the truth.

So lets analyze this philosophy Yes God loves us all, and he took us all just as we were, when we were lost in sin. But to say he doesnt want us to change, or he is not wanting to change us is not only wrong, it actually anti-biblical. It is contrary to the teaching of the Bible, and it would put the Holy Spirit out of business.

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Ro 12:1-2 I beseech ye therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed = Changed, by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove, what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

If you were already everything you should be and could be… you would already be at the end of your journey.

The reason youre still here, and you havent reached the end of your journey yet is because God isnt finished with you yet, youre still in process. There are still changes to be made in your life.

Nothing will change in your life until you quit blaming every body else for your problems and start recognizing that the only one who can decide your future is you.

*You may have been rejected but you are not a reject

*You may have been victimized, abused and misused. But that was an event, it is not who you are.