The faces of bitterness The faces of bitterness

• The faces of bitterness

• The faces of bitterness

• Cain • Joseph’s brothers • Naomi • Simon the Sorcerer

Hebrews 12: 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

ss • The seeds of bitterness

• The root of bitterness

“The root of bitterness only grows into a tree when it is watered by the moisture of our memory, when it is gaining strength by the photosynthesis of our fantasy and then fertilized by our failure to forgive. That means that no one else can make bitterness grow within us. Only we can decide to choke it out and invite joy to bloom in its place. ”

• The fruit of bitterness

“Bitterness soaks into the inut basement of our lives like runoff from a broken sewer pipe, and every form of ugliness begins to float to the surface of those murky waters: prejudice, profanity, suspicion, hate, cruelty and cynicism…

…There is no torment like the inner torment of bitterness, which is the byproduct of an unforgiving spirit. It refuses to be soothed; it refuses to be healed; it refuses to forget. And there is no prison more damaging than the bars of bitterness that will not let the battle end. ”

• The eradication of bitterness

1. Acknowledge your bitterness and repent of it.

2. Will to forgive.

Ephesians 4: 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

3. Release it to God.

Romans 12: 21 -- Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Wm Barclay--“Evil for evil is humanity’s way; evil for good is the devil’s way; but good for evil is God’s way and His way should be our way. ”

“…If I have learned nothing else in my life, I've learned that bitterness only consumes the vessel that contains it. And for me to permit bitterness to control or to infect my life in any way whatsoever would be to allow those who imprisoned me to take even more than the 22 years they've already taken. Now that would make me an accomplice to their crime. ”