Get rid of it!

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

The fact that the Apostle Paul can say get rid of it means that bitterness is a choice. It may be your character right now, your habit, your default way of dealing with things. And if it is, you didn’t become bitter overnight. And if it’s not your habit, when you struggle with bitterness don’t let it become a part of who you are.

You might say, “But you don’t know how hard life is, how many bad things have happened to me, how many people have hurt me.” You’re right. Proverbs 14:10 says, “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.” I only know the bitterness that I have had to struggle with. No one else can feel what’s in my heart; that’s why no one else can choose joy for me! We all have to choose joy for ourselves.

Bitterness doesn’t just happen to us. Bad things happen to us. Bitterness is an optional response to those bad things.

It’s like if it starts to smell in our house, I know I better throw the trash out. I don’t want the smell of rotten food or mold, or the sight of an overflowing trash can festering with maggots. But just because I threw the trash out yesterday, doesn’t mean I won’t have to do it tomorrow. In even the cleanest household there will be trash, and you can choose to let it sit there until you go crazy or pass out from the stink, or you can decide to get rid of it.

The word for malice is kakia (kak-ee'-ah), which, to me, sounds a lot like caca. So you could say that Ephesians is telling us to get rid of our crap! And it’s not a one-time thing. Every time that trash can fills up I need to get rid of it. Every time bitterness wells up in me I need to get rid of it. Every time rage or anger starts to rise, I need to get rid of it. Every time I feel like brawling, shouting, or telling someone off, I need to pull it up by the root and get rid of my bitterness.

*from my message, "The Root of Bitterness," given at Fuel last Friday. Tomorrow, I will be speaking about anger.