Hebrews 12:15 Watch over each other to make sure that no one misses the revelation of God’s grace. And make sure no one lives with a root of bitterness, sprouting within them which will only cause trouble and poison the hearts of many. The Passion Translation
Hating Something Or Someone?
Family life is difficult and juggling all the different personalities and people makes for an open door for offense to happen in our family life. It is easy to fall into anger, hatred and bitterness in this world we live in. This season of our lives, our family is confronted by hatred on a daily basis, we live in a hate filled culture, strong in the characteristic of revenge, offense and lawlessness. Hatred is taking center stage in our national civility, which is being daily devalued right before our eyes. Hate solves nothing, it just further cheapens and muddies up the respect our hearts should respond out of and makes our soul stank like a swamp of lawlessness.
Job 10:1 I hate my life, so I will unload the full weight of my grievance against God. Let me speak and reveal the bitterness I am harboring. The Voice
Angry? Offended? Hurt?
Are you angry at a friend or a family member? Are you embittered by something that happened or keeps happening in your family life? Is your love conditioned by unforgiveness towards those around you? Bitterness and anger change nothing or no one. Oh, I was not totally correct in that statement, because anger, bitterness and unforgiveness changes you, it darkens your soul and it will eventually disrupt the peace at the heart of your family life.
Listen, open your ears, harness your desire to speak, and don’t get worked up into a rage so easily, my brothers and sisters. PHuman anger is a futile exercise that will never produce God’s kind of justice in this world. James 1:19-20 The Voice
Hate Is Not A Problem Solver
Hate solves nothing, devalues everyone and adds no value to anything in our family life. When we cling to hatred, holding it over the wound of our heart, it leads us to the dead-end reaction of revenge, weakening our heart with infectious sin that shares its consequential contagion with everyone in the family. Whenever we take matters into our own hands to hurt a fool, we begin to mirror that fool and duplicity of foolishness takes over our family life and makes for a not so fun family atmosphere. Change it up.
Hebrews 12:15 Watch over each other to make sure that no one misses the revelation of God’s grace. And make sure no one lives with a root of bitterness, sprouting within them which will only cause trouble and poison the hearts of many. The Passion Translation
Bitterness Changes You.
Bitterness changes the atmosphere of your soul from the characteristics of God, your Advocate, to the seedy nature of your real adversary, the enemy of your soul. Bitterness makes you it’s forever victim, it changes your status from free to enslaved. You change from an offended soul to an adversarial soul, and you bring into the family conversations a defensive, victim mentality which violently erupts in little situations of strife with an over exaggerated reaction. This makes family life miserable and will eventually shut down family communication.
Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. Peter 1:18-20 The Message
Flip-Flop Your Reaction To A God Response
Bitterness in our soul changes us, not the person we are bitter against. Hatred hurts us alone, devalues our life. Unforgiveness separates us from wholly-holy fellowship with God. Change it up to trust and belief that God can and God will bring about justice and all things will be set rightly in our favor. Give God “Total Access” to manage the reactions and responses of your heart and soul. Live up, life responsibly in your family life and be accountable to God for your response to all family squabbles, hurts and bitter people-pills to swallow. Precious family, let us let go and let God create in our heart a purity of right living in our family life, which undoubtedly, because of our human condition, is a family filled with imperfect people.
[ Learning to Speak Wisely ] If you shrug off an insult and refuse to take offense, you demonstrate discretion indeed. But the fool has a short fuse and will immediately let you know when he’s offended. Proverbs 12:16 The Passion Translation
Listen Up To God’s Holy Spirit
Are you offended? Don’t pick up that offense and seethe your soul in it, letting your mind run wild and your spirit develop a sick spot. Instead, listen up to the Holy Spirit, Who will speak what is true to us and shatter every false narrative, assumption, presumption, presupposition and position us on the side of God’s truth. In family life, we don’t always know what we “think we know”. We don’t have a corner on truth, we do not see the heart and motive of a person, only God does. In our family life we need to flip-flop our reaction to an action of wholly-holy alignment to God. It is good for us to listen up and respond exactly how God guides us in every agitated situation we face in our family lives. Stand with Jesus on the side of truth and He will make the wrongs, right and the crooked places in our heart and our family life, straight, right and true.
Every dark way must be brought to the light. Wrongs righted. Injustices removed. Every heart of pride will be humbled low before him. Every deception will be exposed and replaced by the truth so that everyone everywhere will be ready to see the Life of God!” Luke 3:5-6 The Passion Translation
Way-Maker God Of Justice
Our Way-Maker God is a God of Justice, He makes crooked places straight and vengeance is always His, in that way only He can usher in what is right and purposefully good. Do not underestimate the power of God and sell Him short on what He can do. God’s ways are not our ways, they are better, they are just and purposeful. Trust Him. Give God total access to your problem, to the people in your life who have hurt you and He will work it out for your good and for the glory of His Kingdom. Every reaction needs to begin with a response to God, humbling our hearts before Him. As we quite our pride, we will see clearly where deception has been replaced by truth and we will be led by God’s Holy Spirit to live truly and love truly in our response to family strife. With God, family peace is so possible and we praise Him today, the Prince of Peace of our family life.
Thank you for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Café today. The Family Table has an incredible meal today that will feed the soul of your family with peace. Please share this meal: Bitter Root with other families so they can know the Prince of Peace at the heart of their family lives. You can use the Social Media button below to share this meal. I would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment on how this family exhortation today helped your family. It is good to pray through this and call out each of your family members. Prayer changes things and holds families tight in the grasp of God’s Unity. I highly encourage you to stay in the Word and daily hear The Bridegroom’s Voice. God bless you MUCH, KimberlyMac. Author
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