Results of Bitterness

Yikes.  Another conversation with a bitter person about how bad things are around them.  I am sick of it!  Sick. To. Death.

I keep praying that God will save me from bitterness, especially as I get older.  I keep seeing the men and women of an older generation gripe about everything, and I don't want that to happen to me. 

Life changes.  Everything changes.  And you can either trust God or not.  You can believe or you can gripe.  It's pretty simple.  But putting your happiness in the hands of your circumstances is ridiculous.  First of all, your happiness is not God's primary concern - it's your holiness he's after.  Second, your reaction to your circumstances reflect your holiness, and for some people, that should scare you!  Third, a complaining spirit is clearly not a godly attitude, and if you are not developing godly attributes, you are developing evil ones.  It's that simple. 

If you want a more abundant life, than pursue it.  Go - no, run to God!  Run to him and seek his ways, his counsel.  If you want to rise above your circumstances, God will help you do it.  But please don't call on his name with one side of your mouth and complain about life with the other. 

It's a dangerous game you're playing, my friend.  Very dangerous. 

Here are some verses to consider about bitterness:

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
    and clever in their own sight.  Isaiah 5:20-21

 

Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
    and have no awe of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.  Jeremiah 2:19

 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:30-32

Let's pray together that God will keep our hearts from bitterness, that we will recognize bitterness when we see it, and that we can encourage those who are bitter without letting it affect us.