Today's Devotional
December 12, 2006
Subject: Stockpiling Bitterness
Ephesians 4:31 - "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:"
Researching the history of the people of Iraq, it was quite interesting to find that while the sectarian violence between the two has never been as strong as it is now, there has been, for literally hundreds of years, growing resentment and animosity towards each other. In the meantime, they've both added to their list of people and countries to hate for one reason or another.
Interestingly enough, you'll find that some of the resentment was initiated in the 19th century when "Christian infidels" as they put it, began to attempt to balance the power in the country by placing the Sunni minority in powerful positions to offset the majority Shias.
What you see in Iraq today, the violence, murder and mayhem is an extreme example of what happens when roots of bitterness are not properly dealt with. The scripture says to put the bitterness, wrath and anger away. Some people build their lives on their hate list. Each day adding to it with someone that they now have a reason to dislike. This is dangerous. The answer is to learn to forgive others so that you can move on with life.
When you stockpile bitterness, it will one day explode and the end is much like you see in Iraq today. Before you get to your own civil war, put away the bitterness and start stockpiling forgiveness.
