Letting Go - Bitterness

Letting Go - Bitterness

December 15, 2019

Has anyone ever hurt you? Maybe they said something to you, or gossiped about you, or something bad happened. Maybe it was a business deal that went bad, or a teacher or coach did something which hurt you.

We’ve all been there! There’s hurt, there’s pain, there’s heartbreak! The question is - - what do we do next?! Do we blow it off, yet harbor resentment and bitterness; or do we work through the hurt and move on?

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been talking about things we need to let go of. We’ve looked at letting go of stuff, the stuff we accumulate that we believe we need, which keeps us from drawing closer to God, and last week we looked at how distractions keep us from God.

Today, we’ve got a very important and difficult topic, we need to let go of something that is destructive - bitterness. In Hebrews 12:14 - the author wrote - -

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. - Hebrews 12:14

How are we doing with that? You see, the word STRIVE means - to aggressively chase, to chase like a hunter pursuing their catch. There’s a sense of urgency to this kind of striving. So, again, let me ask you, are you striving for peace with WHO? With everyone! Even with those who aren’t at the top of your friend list.

Don’t we all have those people in our lives - people who are kind of hard to live at peace with, than others? Yet, the Bible tells us - make every effort to live at peace with everyone AND to be holy.

I believe that one of our spiritual enemy’s greatest weapons are to destroy relationships and poison hearts. To help us become bitter people. We know God wants us to love, but our enemy wants to kill love and intimacy in our relationships. God wants us to grow in trust, but our enemy wants to steal trust and leave us bitter. In fact, our enemy will do everything possible to plant a seed in the hearts of people that will grow into a root of bitterness.

I believe our spiritual enemy wants to plant little seeds that will grow and mature into a root of bitterness. It could be something like, you have a friend on Instagram or facebook and you always like and comment on their post – and then, one day, you realize this person hasn’t been liking and commenting on yours, and you don’t understand why; and then you realize they’ve unfollowed you, a seed has been planted which leads to a root of bitterness.

You text your friend and your friend doesn’t text back, and you know they received your text. But no response! And that little seed grows into a root of bitterness.

It could be the Christmas meal, get ready . . . and every year, the same person brings the same dish, empty containers of tupperware to take a full meal home. A seed is growing into a root of bitterness.

It could be something bigger and more profound. Someone you love lies to you, deceives you, or talks bad about you, a seed that grows into a root of bitterness.

It’s the relative that’s always critical of you, everything you do, the way you raise your kids, the way you spend money, even where you worship. And you’re sick and tired of the criticism.

It could be the person that takes advantage of you, misleads you or betrays you, and you realize, there’s a seed that’s growing into a root of bitterness.

Understand - you can’t control what people do, but you can control how you respond. You can’t control what they think about you, what they say about you, what they do to you, but the good news is, with God’s help and by His power, you can control how you respond. How you respond speaks volumes about your character.

Some of you right now are super excited about Christmas and some of you cannot wait for it to be over, why? Because whatever emotional state you’re currently in, it magnifies this time of year. If things are good in your life, it seems like the lights are brighter, your mood is cheerier, the food tastes better and the season is more magical.

However, for those of you experiencing drama of any kind, whether it’s financial, relational, physical, emotional, this season seems to magnify the pain and hurt.

And of course in the next 2 weeks, you may be around some of those people. And you’re supposed to be happy about seeing them and celebrating the birth of Christ . . . together!