Bitterness

When I was in high school I was very actively involved in my youth group.

My youth group was very small and everybody knew each other very well. We had fun no matter what we were doing.

If there was a youth event I was there. I probably didn’t miss one youth event from my 8th grade year to my 11th grade year.

Then my senior year I quit going. I didn’t get all ‘wild and crazy’ or anything like that. I was simply mad. My youth pastor said something that hurt my feelings so I just quit going.

Would you believe me if I said I don’t even remember what the heck he said to me to make me quit going? But at the time it seemed important enough to cut off relationships that helped form me spiritually and quit going to the thing I loved best.

Because I was hurt.

How often does this happen in our church today? Somebody doesn’t like what the pastor said, somebody gets hurt by another church member, or somebody just doesn’t want to take the time to serve their church anymore.

With Luke working in a church for the past 4 years I have seen my fair share of people who get hurt and just quit coming to the church they had been actively serving.

I have seen people who did originally have reason to be hurt, allow the enemy to take that pain and twist it, turn it, and rub it in until it just become plain bitterness.

And that is exactly what happened to me. I am guilty of allowing bitterness to take a hold of me and control me, and as a result I missed enjoying my senior of high school with the youth group that I had become so close to.

I really don’t know why I’m writing this, other than I know what it feels like to bitter, and I know the sting of being on the other side of bitterness. I know what it feels like when somebody that you formed a relationship with stops putting in the effort because they were bitter and they have allowed it to control them.

Is there any area of your life, where you have allowed hurt to form into bitterness?  I have to re-examine myself often, and ask myself: What areas am I blinded in right now? It may seem like hurt on the outside, but inside I am allowing myself to dwell on it, until it become full blown bitterness.  

I know exactly where I need to start in my life, there are several areas where bitterness is forming and I need to get rid of it immediately. 

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and ager, 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 4:31-32