And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.     Ephesians 4:30-32 HCSB

Today in Louisiana, we celebrate, or some celebrate Mardi Gras. We go from Fat Tuesday as it is called to where anything goes to Ash Wednesday which is celebrated by Catholics, and this begins Lent for them which lasts through to Easter.

Growing up in a Baptist church, we never celebrated Lent. But a couple weeks ago in my Sunday school class, I suggested we all give up something that does not help us in our walk with Christ. I didn’t suggest that we give it up until Easter or for the Lenten season, but for good. Maybe we need to curtail time spent in front of the television, or the computer screen or on social media. Maybe we could spend a little more time in prayer and Bible study. If we are honest with ourselves, we all have things in our lives that we could do with less of.

So, I am asking you today if there is something in your life to give up? Then my next question is are you willing to give it up? Could you spend less time doing things that are of no benefit to your eternal life? Could you commit to spend a bit more time in prayer and Bible study which is the way we communicate with God?

When I asked this question in Sunday School, one of the ladies in my class posted this on Facebook and asked if we could give up some of the things mentioned in our Scripture passage for today. Can you give up your anger, bitterness, wrath, shouting, slander and malice? Can you replace it with kindness, compassion and forgiveness?

Peter said in 1 Peter 5:5-7, “In the same way, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him because He cares about you.”

I know I am often preaching to the choir here, but today I am trying to teach myself. In the last few months, I have found myself with some anger and some bitterness. I thought years ago, I had learned to put those things away by praying for those who persecute me as we are told to do in Matthew 5:44. It’s not easy, but with Jesus’ help, it gets easier as we submit to Him and do as He instructs us to do.

We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We can be angry and bitter towards someone and pray for them. I’ve been there and done that. But I can tell you that through my prayers, God was able to change that bitterness into compassion. I truly believe that some of us refuse to forgive someone or pray for them because we don’t want to have compassion for them.

We don’t want our hearts to be softened we want them to be hard. Well, Pharaoh hardened his heart when Moses was trying to get him to let the Egyptians go. It costs him every first-born Egyptian male and ultimately the life of him and his soldiers as they drowned in the Red Sea.

Starting today, I am vowing to give up bitterness, anger, wrath, and malice. I am going to pray to God to strengthen me and help me to replace that with love, humility, compassion and forgiveness. I know I am not strong enough to do this on my own, but His word tells me His power is perfected in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Don’t be weighed down in sin, bitterness and unforgiveness. Humble yourselves so that God may lift you up at the proper time. Trust in Him today and let go of the things in your life that are getting in the way of a good, solid relationship with Him. Get rid of these things not just for Lent, but for good.

Have a great day!