The ManicaPost
Evangelist Peter Madondo
AS the famous Bantu proverb goes: “A bitter hearts eats its owner”, today I seek to play the surgeon’s role and ensure that we permanently uproot this spiritual and physically marauding cancer.
Ephesians 4:31, Apostle Paul reiterates: “let all bitterness, wrath, clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.” The great apostle realises the devastating effects dovetailed to bitterness and with uttermost emphasis he charges his readers to put away bitterness. Bitterness can best be defined as a state of anger and disappointed at being treated unfairly.
Everyone at one point or the other encountered a situation where they really felt bitter. It is normal, but what is important is how to navigate your way out of the quagmire. Holding onto past disappointments has relegated a host of people into the regret, boredom and misery kingdom.
Bitterness sickens life, love heals it. Bitterness blinds life, love anoints its eyes. It is a simple, but sometimes forgotten truth that the greatest enemy to present joy and high hopes is the cultivation of retrospective bitterness. When the root is bitterness, imagine what the fruit might be.
We have heard of people who committed crimes they would have never did had they let go their bitterness. The Bible charges us to put away bitterness, while it is a gigantic task to let go, but the fruits of such by far surpasses that of holding onto the bitterness.
If the world today was infested with people who put away bitterness, then it should have been more peaceful. Regardless of how excruciating your experiences were, no matter your trusted wife cheated on you, despite the fact that the man you trusted so much betrayed you, I know your children have brought you anguish and pain maybe your employer failed to fulfil his promises, say NO to bitterness.
Let me remind you of Ahitophel in the book of 2 Samuel 16. The man ended up taking away his own life because he was bitter in life. The majority of people who took away their lives did so because of bitterness. It is my wish that whatever you have in your heart as charged by the scriptures, you may do away with it.
It is important to spew out all your worries. It is the duty of all to pursue peace with our loved ones. Hebrew 12:14 reads: “Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” This is one passage that lifts the bar of Christianity.
While one might seemingly be upright before men, as long as they have bitterness within themselves they will never see the Lord. The two major ingredients for meeting the Lord are that of being holy and making peace with all men. This has to be pursued regardless of their offences against you. If we entertain meeting the Lord then this is the way to go.
Bitterness is indeed a cancer. The longer we stay with it, the more dreadful it becomes. It is therefore essential that we work on uprooting it and free ourselves from the menace and horror of missing out heaven.
While you may not necessarily need to befriend those who have wronged you, but surely we can let go their wrongs and live a life free from bitterness.
