Bitter Or Better? - Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Ephesians 4:31

American Standard Version (ASV)

³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice:

Bitter Or Better? - Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Given a set of circumstances, any person can choose to go through life either as a victim or as a victor. God grants us the grace to make this choice of either becoming bitter or better. And apart from the wisdom coming from God, we will be unable to choose wisely.

Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” God commands us to remove roots of bitterness. We are to grow roots of betterness instead.

Bitterness begins as a root. Roots, by nature, grow underground. We can look all right on the outside and yet allow bitterness to take root in our life. When we nurse negative emotions, they will eventually take root as bitterness.

The Bible teaches that bitterness will eventually grow and cause trouble. That’s why we are to get rid of it right away. Bitterness causes damage not just to the person who is bitter, but also to the people around him or her. Most of the time, we try to get people to side with us and convince them to take offense for us even if they have nothing to do with the issue.

If we don’t deal with bitterness, it will get the better out of us. It will affect the way we view people, circumstances, and God Himself. We need God’s grace to deal with bitterness. Ephesians 4:31 says, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” We are to ‘make a clean sweep.’ No leftover bitterness. Only by the grace of God will this be possible.

God gives us a choice. Instead of becoming bitter, we can become better. Like a tree planted by the water, we need to send out our roots by the source of life, Jesus Christ. When we are deeply soaked and anchored in Him, we will not fear when trouble comes because we are certain that the grace of God will sustain us. Jeremiah says such a tree has leaves that are always fresh and always bears fruit in season (Jer 17:7-8).

To grow roots of betterness, we must confess our bitterness, surrender to God’s sovereignty, and forgive. In doing so, we acknowledge that God is the One in charge—that He has the best plans for us. When we forgive the offender, we set him or her and ourselves free.

Sold by his jealous brothers into slavery and imprisoned on false accusations, Joseph had all the reasons to be bitter. But Joseph surrendered to the sovereignty of God (Gen 50:19-20). He forgave his offenders, embraced them, wept with them, and restored his relationship with them.

1 Peter 2:23 shows us the perfect example of dealing with bitterness: “While being reviled, Jesus did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Jesus forgave and entrusted Himself to Him to judge justly even in the midst of an extremely painful situation. In His dying breath, He uttered these words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk 23:34)

To overcome bitterness, confess to God that you have allowed bitterness to take root in your heart. Receive God’s forgiveness and surrender your life to His sovereignty. Be assured that He is wise and in control and He has your best interest at heart. The evidence of faith is obedience to God’s Word and alignment to His will. When we trust God, we are allowing ourselves to be enabled by His grace to forgive those who have offended us. It is by God’s grace alone that we can remove the roots of bitterness in our lives and grow roots of betterness.