Archive for October, 2022
Uprooting the Root of Bitterness
Ephesians 4: 30 – 32
Jesus wants to help you overcome the most common sin among Christians today. Bitterness is considered by many to be the most common sin among Christians. Are you presently harboring any bitterness?
In the New Testament the word comes from the word “pikria.” It refers to a person who has become cynical, caustic, sarcastic, hostile, or resentful. It manifests itself by the person becoming negative, unhappy, and critical.
We become bitter when we feel God, circumstances, or someone has wronged us, and we can’t do anything about it. We get angry and refuse to forgive. Bitter people build a mental dossier on the failings of others. This outlook causes the bitter person to look for little things about which to make snide, cutting comments, sarcastic remarks, and unkind statements.
Often bitterness is felt toward God. When it is, most frequently it is expressed indirectly. Maybe as a child something traumatic happened that you prayed would not happen. Anger toward God arose. Over a period of time bitterness sprouted. It is hard to get your hands on God and exercise vengeance against Him. Therefore, the church becomes the target. Maybe it is even God Himself and the reaction of bitterness is expressed in a denial of His existence.
Every person has hurtful or negative experiences. It is up to the individual as to how to react. Bitterness is an improper reaction.
Forgive the person you consider to have offended you as Jesus told Peter and us to do it 70 X 7 times. That means, don’t quit forgiving.
When the poet Edwin Markham reached the age of retirement, he was stunned to learn that his banking friend had betrayed him and lost all of his life’s savings. At retirement he was penniless. The torch of bitterness burned where the candle of joy had formerly gleamed. His inspiration ceased and his pen became unproductive. One day this highly productive poet was sitting doodling, drawing circles when the convicting influence of the Holy Spirit impacted him. He said the Holy Spirit did not speak to him in an audible voice, but clearly convinced him, “Marcum, if you do not deal with this thing, it is going to ruin you. You cannot afford the price you are paying. You must forgive that man.” He prayed, “Lord, I will, and I do freely forgive.”
With the root of bitterness uprooted His creativity returned and the man who wrote the memorable poems “Lincoln” and “The Man With the Hoe” produced what he considered his best poem:
“He drew a circle and shut me out–
Heretic, rebel, a thing of flout;
But love and I had a will to win:
We drew a circle and took him in!”
There are two different and dissimilar Greek words in the text, both of which are translated “forgiveness.” One refers to releasing of charges against a person and exempting that one from punishment. The other speaks of aggressive action to regain the heart of the adversary. It means to show grace to a person. To give them unmerited favor. By the grace of God it can be done. Do it and gain victory.
Making the Impossible Possible
The story of David’s conquest of the city of Jebus (Jerusalem) is intriguing. The city walls were so formidable and well fortified the inhabitants said they could man their walls with the blind and lame and defeat David.
To prevail, some new approach was necessary. To provide water for the city in times of conflict a shaft was dug allowing water to be brought safely into the city. David found the shaft now bearing the name of the archeologist, Charles Warren, who excavated the area in the early 19th century. This is believed to be the shaft mentioned in II Samuel 5.
Joab, one of David’s soldiers, scaled up the shaft into the city and without being detected opened the gates of the city. David’s army rushed through the open gates and conquered the city from within.
After the conquest David further developed the city which became Jerusalem, the City of David.
There are things you can do, things others can do, and things no one can do.
David did what seemed to be a number three. One or more of these three are faced everyday by all persons. The thing at issue is deciding which applies to what a person is considering doing.
Upon deciding if a thing is something you can and should do, seek for a way to do even the seemingly impossible. Don’t waste your time doing what someone else can do or what no one can do.
Start with a “show me Lord” attitude and continue with a resolute will. The Lord will never give you something to do He won’t give you the ability to do. Resolutely pray for God’s guidance regarding issues small and great. Don’t kid yourself and don’t doubt God.
An unproductive effort may prove you have misunderstood God’s will and instead of the activity being something you should do it is a number two or three. If so, and after a wholehearted unproductive effort, put in the capable hands of God with whom all things are possible, and seek His will regarding an effort He has for you.
Faith is an integral part of all undertakings. Jesus spoke of having faith and moving mountains. Most believers have done what He was teaching without realizing it. In the era in which He was speaking impossible things were called mountains. A person who had the ability to resolve issues and solve problems was called a “Mountain mover.” A person who had faith that enabled a problem to be solved was a “Mountain mover.”
Buckle up your faith and go let God help you move a mountain. David did.
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42: 2)
Let Your Light Shine – Part Three
Matthew 5:14-16
As a young child, Robert Louis Stevenson watched through a window as night covered his community. His nurse said, “Come sit down, it is so dark you can’t see anything now.” “Oh yes I can,” he replied as he watched the lamplighter coming up the street igniting the gas street lights, “I see a man making holes in the darkness.” That is exactly what Christ wants us to do spiritually.
When A.W. Milne, missionary to New Guinea died, the natives erected a marker: “When he came to us there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.” May it be said of your sphere area of influence.
Joni Erickson Tada, observed “The world does not get it’s concept of Christianity from the Bible but from believers.”
Let your light “so shine” not as to dazzle nor to obscure. Light can be used to blind or guide. Don’t use your light so as to offend, but to guide.
The reason is “…that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
That they may see “your good works, not you, the worker. People don’t look at the sun, but they marvel over its effects.
There are two Greek words for good: “agathos”meaning good in quality, and “kalos, meaning good in quality, but also beautiful and winsome. The latter is used.
Let your good works be done spontaneously and naturally, not demonstrably. That they may “glorify your Father….”
Light, literally, is a form of energy. Solar panels on satellites capture rays of the sun and convert them to energy.
Plant life is energized by capturing the sun’s rays and by a process called photosynthesis, transforms it into life.
A missionary in China had his meager hospital which he had worked years to develop burned by General Chaing Ki Sheck when the General’s army occupied the territory. The doctor followed the General’s army treating his wounded soldiers. The General later asked the doctor’s wife why he did this. “It is because he is a Christian,” she replied. “Then I, too, must become a Christian,” was the General’s reply. That doctor was one of the three influences that brought Chaing Ki Sheck to Jesus by letting his work glorify the Father.
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (II Corinthians 4: 6)
As Jesus prayed so might we: “Father, glorify Thy name…I have glorified you on earth.”
Light shows. There’s nothing secretive about the Christian life. This appeal by Christ is a call to demonstrate the joy of fellowship with Him.