A man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake was rushed to
the hospital. When he asked the doctor, “Is it life-threatening?” the doctor
said, “the bite isn’t, but the poison is.”
The “bites” you suffer at the hands of others are painful
and upsetting, but they’re not lethal. What happens to you normally doesn’t
destroy you, but what happens in you afterwards can. Like venom, bitterness
first poisons your mind, then your relationships. It causes you to replay the
hurt until it controls you, stealing the future God planned for you. But it
doesn’t have to be that way.
You can overcome bitterness. God says, “Stop being bitter
and angry and mad at others.” And what God commands, He will give you the grace
to do. When Peter asked Jesus, “Should I forgive my brother seven times?” Jesus
said, “No, you must forgive him seventy times seven” (See Matthew 18:21-22). In
other words, “Forgive, and keep on forgiving until it no longer bothers you.”
What causes bitterness: Anger that’s allowed to take residence in your
thought-life. God’s purpose for anger is
to motivate you to tap into His power for solving problems; otherwise they
become permanent. Solving the problem resolves and relieves your anger.
But anger can become long-term bitterness when you fixate
on “who did it to me,” making you hostile, critical blaming and punitive. You
say, “Can I really stop my anger?” Yes, with God’s help you can control your
reactions and behaviors,, and stare your anger to death. “The fruit of the
Spirit is…self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)
No comments:
Post a Comment