Better, Not Bitter

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Better, Not Bitter

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:31

Now there’s a nasty list. But nasty or not, study it for a minute, then notice something: it is pretty easily divided it into inner attitudes and outer expressions. We can spot the angry, slanderous brawler, but we don’t always know who is bitter or is harboring a malicious intent—even when that person is us.

Whether the problem lies in our thought life or our outward responses, Paul’s solution is the same: Get rid of it. It doesn’t matter if we were raised by an angry parent or someone has committed a terrible wrong against us, we must let it go. The world tells us that we have our reasons and our rights. In a heavenly economy, our rights are a poor substitute for the blessings that God has prepared for us.

Do you know the word that Scripture uses for such attitudes and actions? Fruitless. Imagine spending your life cultivating a dead tree. Picture you, laboring season after season under the hot sun, pouring all your energy into pruning, fertilizing and watering a lifeless stump.

Paul is saying, “Move on; don’t waste your life on what is coming to nothing. Leave the old ways behind and come with me, and you will experience a new kind of life full of growth, freedom and joy.

Nancy S.