Don’t Drink That Poison

Hebrews 12:15

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

If someone told you that the liquid in a glass was poison and would slowly kill anyone who drank it, I doubt if you would be tempted to take a big drink of the stuff. In fact, I don’t know of anyone in their right mind that would. But, I can tell you something that so many people are doing that is causing just the same results, only they don’t realize it. What is this poison that I am talking about? It is bitterness caused by unforgiveness.

Every person alive has the same opportunity to experience this, since everyone has been hurt, wronged or disappointed by someone else. The question that you must answer is, “What will you do with your hurts?” If handled the correct way they can actually make your life better and make you stronger, but if handled wrongly, they will slowly but surely cause you tremendous damage. In effect, harboring these emotions are like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.

The reality is that there will always be the opportunity to be hurt since there will always be people who irritate you and make you angry. You will never totally escape rude, selfish and unjust people. There will also be times when people that we have trusted will disappoint us and let us down.

God will allow these times to keep us humble and to drive us to seek Him for help. He can also use them to reveal inconsistencies in our lives. One thing that you can be sure of is that if you can be offended, you surely will be offended.

Every time you feel the urge to get offended, recognize that you have the opportunity to get better or bitter. There is not much difference in the spelling of the words, but there’s a world of difference in the effect they will have on you. Don’t drink that poison, it will kill you