Bitterness

This morning I was reading through one of Max Lucado's devotionals. It was on bitterness. This is what he said,
   
          Bitterness is its own prison... Step in and look at the prisoners. Victims are
          chained to the walls. Victims of betrayal. Victims of abuse.

It is true that there are those who have had serious offenses against them: abuse and betrayal. To work through these ordeals can only be done by the grace of God. And I am so thankful that He is more than willing to love and work for those who have been hurt so badly.

But for a lot of us, thinking of me in particular, we have not experienced these kinds of things. Yet we have bitterness. We are offended over some trivial thing and we won't let it go. The bitterness starts, the foundation. Then the lies start to come in - "They really meant this!" Soon the bitterness has built a wall of lies and there is NO WAY we would deal with that person again. "I mean really - they did that before! Imagine what they are capable of!" The scary thing is we would never say those things, but we would think them. We would believe them. The walls have come up and then we believe them - we become chained to them.

Sometimes we become so bitter and have built the walls of lies so high that we can't even remember why it started, what the foundation for it all is.

Scripture says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) The LORD challenged me this morning. How can I be bitter against anyone when I have sinned against the God of the universe and He has FORGIVEN me ALL?!?!?!?!? The truth is I shouldn't, but I sometimes still do. But He, in His grace, has reminded me that I am forgiven of every thought and deed that is against Him, The Almighty, Omnipotent, All-Powerful One, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Can I not forgive something so trivial? I can and I pray that I will.