Turn to God first!

Ephesians 4:30-32 (ASV)

³⁰ And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.

³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice: ³² and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you.

            BITTERNESS one of life’s awful destructive powers, it cannot only destroy my relationships it can also destroy me-from the inside out! According to Dictionary.com, bitter is “having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste.” Merriam Webster defines bitter as “harshly reproachful, marked by cynicism and rancor.”

          Bitterness is a pill I often swallow and allow to fester inside me. This causes not only my sarcastic, cynical nature to burst forth but it also throws me into a physical flare up of my chronic conditions. I once read a saying about when we don’t forgive it is like taking rat poison and then expecting the rat to die! I have experienced the results of such poisoning and I refuse to allow it to take hold of me again.

          That harsh, acrid taste started to rise up in me again this morning after reading a post on facebook. Even though I thought I had cut the cord that bound that suitcase full of bitterness the last time I handed it to Christ, I found that cord became a bungee cord as that bitterness snapped back into my gut, knocking me over. In my Bible Study, My Life as a Citizen of Heaven, there is a section on Personal Attitude Adjustment.  This time, when I felt that bile rising in me, I realized I truly needed an attitude adjustment and  I turned to God’s Word.

          This time I pleaded with God not to allow that bitterness to take hold. I searched the Scriptures because I knew He had to have something to say about bitterness. I no longer would allow that bungee cord to have the last word. With God’s loving words I was able to cut the cord this time. I stand on His words about forgiveness.

          I also took the practical steps (with God’s help) of removing the offending facebook posts from my view. God will give us the help we need, even if it is help to understand the tech world of social networking. Turn to God first!