The First Step

 

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!”  (Matthew 5.43-44 NLT)

 

“Lord, is there any bitterness in my life?”  I asked the question half-heartedly knowing that there wouldn’t be.  I had just worked through a seven year stretch of bitterness and felt pretty sure that there couldn’t be any more.
 

 

But there was no waiting, no hesitation for God to speak.  It was immediate and right on point, with the precision only God can do.  He laid bare with his ever loving scalpel an area of sin that had been festering in my heart for over twenty years!

 

 

Bitterness had burrowed deep into my soul.  With every wrong done to me I allowed it to tunnel deeper and deeper, until it had become a part of who I was.  I relished and justified the bitterness because  I was in the right.  

 

 

 

 "But just because you're in the right doesn't give you the okay to hold on to your bitterness."

God's gentle voice prodded.

 

“Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy.” (Proverbs 14.10 NLT)

 

God’s illuminating truth revealed the corruption of my heart. 



But how do I yank this out of my life?   Where do I go?

 

“Come to ME . . . Pray for those who have wounded you, for those who have done you wrong.”

 

Prayer does the unexplainable, in the heart of the one who prays. 

 

What about you?  Have you asked God to show you the bitterness that lurks in your own heart?  Are you praying for those who have hurt you and done you wrong? 

 

Take the first step and pray . . .

 

Lord, I surrender my bitterness to You, all the those things I used to justify my bitterness because I was wronged.  I NEVER want to add another brick to my wall of bitterness.  Root out this darkness in me and teach me to come to You.  Amen.