House of Hope Online

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As I sought the Lord this morning, He began speaking to me about the root of bitterness, and how damaging it can be to ourselves and others.  The root of bitterness is something that can spring up in us in the course of our daily life and catch us unaware.  The Spirit of God wants us to learn about it and be on guard against it.

Last time we discussed pride, which stems from the original sin of Adam and Eve.  We saw in Genesis 3:6 that Eve became interested in the forbidden fruit because she saw the tree of knowledge was desirable to make one wise.  So, we have a fleshly nature that desires to be wise, to be knowledgeable, to be the smart one in the room.  We discussed how arrogance is an offensive display of overbearing pride, and how we become offended by the arrogance of others because we have fleshly pride of our own.

We also discussed last time how our pride can lead to anger, and that is what I want to focus on today.  We live in a divided world today, indeed a divided nation in the United States.  As we take part in the debates of our nation, we can get drawn into the sins of pride and deeds of the flesh such as hatred, strife, outbursts of anger, disputes, and factions.  Galatians 5:21 warns us that those who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.  As Christians, it is important that we do not cause strife, or hate or become angry with those with whom we disagree.  James 1:20 teaches us that “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”.

Wherever you receive the news, if you are like me, you tend to like those who agree with you, and get upset with those who call for a different law or type of governance.  Anger can come especially when the opinions of others oppose the Word of God.  Pride may be the source of that anger or righteousness indignation, but the root of bitterness that can result is a serious issue for us, as we will see in today’s scriptures.

Hebrews 12:

 15 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;

The writer of Hebrews is exhorting us not to fall short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness can spring up in us and cause trouble, defiling many.  The Greek word for “bitterness” means acidity, or poison.  Reference to the grace of God is significant in this verse.  Grace means God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and so the scripture means, without God, our spirits will develop a root of bitterness.  We must rely on the grace of God and the Holy Spirit to prevent the root of bitterness.

In Deuteronomy 29, Moses emphasizes the importance of remaining in covenant with God and describes the consequences of becoming worldly like the unbelieving nations:

Deuteronomy 29:

 18 lest there shall be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there shall be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

Unbelief, and the spirit of unbelief, can draw us into a root of bitterness and decay, as we debate with that spirit the issues of the day.  So, while it is important not to become accepting of unbelief, in doing so we must also avoid anger, as Proverbs 14 and 22 warn.

Proverbs 14:

 16 ¶ A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless.

 17 ¶ A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of evil devices is hated.

Proverbs 22:

 24 ¶ Do not associate with a man [given] to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man,

 25 Lest you learn his ways, And find a snare for yourself.

So Proverbs tell us to be cautious and turn away from the evil of these debates because it is easy for us to become arrogant, careless, and quick-tempered.  If we associate with angry discussions, we can learn the ways of anger and become trapped in it.

Here is a direct warning from Jesus about becoming angry and calling another a fool:

Matthew 5:

 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty [enough to go] into the fiery hell.

The expression “Raca” means in the original Greek “empty or worthless one.”  Do you ever feel that way about those who oppose your positions?  Jesus is saying we risk be being guilty enough to be condemned to fiery hell.  If Jesus says: “do not be angry, do not call others a fool,” we should obey.  But to obey, we must call for help from Heaven and allow the grace of God to empower us to overcome our fleshly tendency.  Jesus would never require us to do something He is not willing to empower us to do.

As we stand for Christian principles in an unbelieving world, Galatians 5 encourages us to walk in love.

Galatians 5:

 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the [statement], “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another.

 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Are we walking in love when we stand for the Word of God, or do we bite and devour others in words or thought?  All such activity gives the devil an opportunity to consume us.  The Apostle Paul encourages us to instead walk in the Spirit.

I like to use the expression “soaking in the Holy Spirit.”  You are what you soak in.  If you soak yourself in the strife of this world, you will become like the world and the poisonous fruit of Deuteronomy 29:18.  But, on the other hand, if you soak in the Spirit of God, you will become like Him.  The Lord hates sin but not those who sin.  Jesus loved His persecutors as He hung on the cross in great pain.  If we soak in His Spirit, we will be able to do the same thing.

Father God, breathe on us by Your Holy Spirit, and soak us in who You are.  By Your grace, set aside our anger and strife and other deeds of the flesh.  We pray that no root of bitterness would spring up in us to cause trouble and defile many.  And, if we have a root of bitterness, we repent and call upon the name of Jesus and the grace of God to be released from its bondage.  Breathe Your love over us that we might love others, even those who oppose our views, and those who are unbelievers.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.