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 4:31-32 HCSB

No, our title for today is not some new scary movie that’s just come out. The thought of some big dinosaur type creature roaming around and picking us up like popcorn and eating us alive would be pretty scary, right? If there were such a creature, I would hope that you would avoid getting in their path.

Well, there is something that will eat us alive, but this is something that we invite inside and hold on to it, refusing to let it go.  Now, why would we invite someone or something into our lives that will literally destroy us? Why would we hold onto something that can make us physically ill with stress? I’m glad you asked. I can only speak for myself, but back in the day when I held on to bitterness and anger against someone, I foolishly thought that I was showing them.  I thought that I would teach them not to mess with me. But what I learned is, it’s actually the opposite.  They are going about their lives oftentimes oblivious to the fact that I am holding onto this bitterness and anger.

I’ve learned several things about this.  One is that by holding on to anger and bitterness, I am allowing the enemy to control me.  I am not only talking about the devil here, but I’m talking about the human being that the devil has used to make me angry.  When I refuse to let it go, I am giving them control to keep me bitter, angry and full of wrath.  This will probably spill out into gossip and slander.  They can really mess me up if I allow them to. The other thing I have learned is all that I show them and anyone else who is watching is what it looks like to be bitter.  If they cared that you were angry, they wouldn’t have offended you in the first place, right? The other thing that I learned is that sometimes the person had no intention of offending me, but because I didn’t go to them and discuss it with them, there was no resolution.  I have found, sometimes, years later that this person never intended to offend me and never knew what was wrong, only that I had cut off communication with them.

Bitterness will eat you alive.  It will destroy you from the inside out.  How many of you are hearing the theme song from the movie Frozen, now? Just, let it go. Don’t let it destroy you.  The other thing that bitterness will do is destroy your witness. Have you ever thought that maybe that was the devil’s intention all along.  If you hold onto bitterness, it’s a win/win for the devil.  He has not only destroyed your relationship with this person, but he has effectively destroyed your witness. That person that you invited to church two weeks ago, just heard you at the water cooler ranting in bitterness and wrath.  Now, do you think they want to live like that? I don’t think so.  They will probably walk away shaking their head, saying something like, “This guy claims to be a Christian?” You know this is true, because you have probably experienced a similar situation.

I’m betting that each and every one of you has trash cans in your home.  This is where you put your garbage. When they fill up, they get emptied. You take them somewhere or maybe you have a larger can outside that you put out for the garbage pickup.  You don’t hang on to your garbage, right? Well, we must come to realize that bitterness, anger, wrath and slander is garbage that the devil tries to dump on us.  He wants to weigh us down and cover us up with this garbage so that people can’t see the fruits of the Spirit in us that we spoke of yesterday.  If you are covered up in bitterness, wrath, anger, unforgiveness and slander, no one will see, patience, kindness, gentleness, love, peace, joy, faith and self control.

See bitterness and unforgiveness for what it is, a big monster that will destroy you if you are not careful.  The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies and bless those that persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Trust God to dole out any vengeance that is due someone who brings evil against you (Romans 12:19).  Don’t hang onto the bad stuff, give it to God and let him dispose of it. Don’t let it eat you alive.

Have a great day!