Don’t Be Bitter

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

If someone is bitter it means that they are hateful or hostile. Like if a person is still angry about something that happened years ago, you would say that they are still bitter about something. A bitter person is “cynical and resentful.” 

Bitterness in a person will not be forgiving. It will not forget the sin or mistakes that someone has done, and move past it. It will not try to resolve the problem, but will sit and “stew.” They will not forgive and move on, but will continue to hold a grudge.

As a child, someone might have been bullied by another classmate, or teased or pushed around. Once they get older, maybe the “bullly” will come up to that other person and apologize for their behavior when they were younger. Right there that person came forward and apologized for the way they had acted, and it is up to the other person what to do next. They can either be cold-hearted, unforgiving, and bitter and refuse to grant the other forgiveness, or they can do what the Lord Jesus commands us to do. Forgive. 

Wrath is great anger. 

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” Ephesians 4:26

The anger this is written about is anger that leads to sin. Jesus was angry because of people’s unbelief, but He didn’t use that anger to sin against others. 

“And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” Mark 3:5

His anger didn’t lead to sin. He was grieved because of their unbelief, but His anger didn’t lead to sin. Suppose for a moment that someone wronged you in some way, maybe someone accidently broke your window somehow. You obviously might be upset or angry at what had happened, but we are taught to not let that anger continue to linger into the next day. We need to let that anger go. 

“…let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Don’t continue to live day after day in anger and bitterness towards another person. Forgive and forget. When someone repents and asks for forgiveness, don’t bring up that subject anymore. When the Lord forgives us, our sins are taken away, and He remembers them no more.

We are called to love one another, not hate. And love for your neighbor will forgive.

Maybe you have heard the reference that someone’s eyes were “black with rage.” Meaning, the pupils in their eyes dilate (get bigger) so their eyes appear black. This sometimes happens when someone gets angry. Someone’s eyes normally look a certain color, blue, brown, green etc. But when the pupil dilates, the dark pupil is far more noticeable and the eyes look black. And that is kind of similar to this passage in 1 John 2. 

“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:9-11

Someone who hates a brother is in darkness, just like how the eye’s of a person appear dark black when angry. The hate for a neighbor blinds them, and they don’t walk in the truth, and forgive. 

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Luke 6:36

Don’t let yourself be blinded by hate. Don’t be bitter or let your anger cause you to sin. Forgive, as God has forgiven you. And forgive, remembering those sins no more, as the Lord has done for all.

In Christ,

Andrew