By Andrea Merrell
Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive
the grace of
God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness
grows up to
trouble you, corrupting many.
Hebrews 12:15 NLT
“You’re carrying an offense.”
It was the last thing I wanted to hear, especially
from my husband. I disagreed—loudly—telling him my offense had been dealt with
and put behind me.
Then
why did I get so angry? I asked myself. Why did I lash out at the person who loves me and was only trying to
help me?
Taking on an offense can be so subtle we hardly
realize it. Even when we think we’ve forgiven someone, it’s easy to ignore the
root of bitterness that has embedded itself in our heart. That bitterness
taunts us, raising its ugly head every time the offending person’s name is
mentioned.
Psalm
119:165 says Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall
offend them (KJV).
Seriously? Nothing? That’s a tall order, but God
never instructs us to do anything He doesn’t give us the power to do.
Pastor and author Bob Gass says this:
Turn to God. Give Him
all your worries and cares … for He cares
about you (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). Give Him your pain, your failures, your
hang-ups, and your challenges. Forgive the person who hurt you. Obsessing over
what they did and trying to make them pay just keeps you chained to them. But
forgiveness breaks the chain and sets you free. In your own strength you may be
able to do something to alleviate your pain. But God can destroy the root of
the pain and cause you to walk victoriously into the future.
If someone has hurt you, and your offense—left unattended—has
caused a root of bitterness to take hold, allow God to do a spiritual root
canal today and destroy the root of your pain.
(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Stuart Miles.)
TWEETABLE
To read in browser, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment