Thursday, February 28, 2013

Bitterness


14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.
--Hebrews 12:14-15

 By far, my most read blog post ever was “Further Thoughts on Fourth Grade Forgiveness.”  As the title indicates, it was about forgiving others and its popularity, I think, is indicative of the struggle we can sometimes have with this onerous challenge given us by Jesus. 
Forgiveness is something we all long to receive, but begrudgingly give.  We love to garner grace, but dole out justice.  Plus, when we’ve been hurt badly, holding a grudge certainly beats holding our hurts.
The problem is that, if we hold grudges long enough, they have a way of morphing on us.  Grudges become bitterness.  Bitterness spreads in our souls like kudzu.  It doesn’t take long before we are overcome and enslaved to it and it drains the joy from our lives. 
This Sunday at Advent, we will continue our Hostage series by continuing our Lenten look at the ties that can bind us.  We will look to Scripture and the life of Jesus to discover what forgiveness is, what it isn’t, and how to break the bonds of bitterness.  I hope to see you there.  Invite a friend!

Trying to break the bonds of bitterness,
Pastor Michael

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