My Daily Devotional

Control Your Bitterness

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

Have you ever been betrayed in your life? I am confident that most people have experienced a situation or situations where you have been hurt, and bitterness, rage and anger has manifested itself inside you. A friend or co-worker who slanders you behind your back, a boss that has fired you without reason, an unfaithful spouse, a broken relationship without any cause can all be reasons to feel betrayed, and cause you to store up bitterness against someone. Jesus was the ultimate example of how we need to deal with betrayal. When Judas betrayed Him with a kiss, Jesus refused to be bitter, and did not penalize Judas for what He had done. Judas destroyed himself; it was not Jesus that took his revenge. Jesus also did not hold bitterness against Peter when he denied him three times. Jesus forgave him and Peter was restored, and became the great preacher on the Day of Pentecost. Being betrayed is an external act against us, something that others do to us, but bitterness is internal; something that we do to ourselves. Bitterness is more devastating that the act of betrayal, as we can survive betrayal, but very few can survive the effects of bitterness, and what it can do in our lives. We may not be able to control an act of betrayal that is done against us by someone, but we can and must control our hearts, and keep bitterness from invading our lives. We need to eliminate any words of bitterness from our conversations, and not remind others of our experiences, unless it is to teach and encourage them to rise above their own hurts. We need to remove any bitterness from our hearts, and be on guard against bitterness in the future, and use Jesus as our example as He refused to be bitter.

(Many of my readers have asked if my Daily Devotionals have been published and if they could purchase them. The Devotionals I am posting are from My Daily Devotional Volume III which was published in 2009 and can be purchased at amazon.com or from me at robbrock@comcast.net)