Bitter Poison

Ephesians 4:31-32

Picture a miserable, depressed, emotionally broken person hunched over a
chemistry set. His eyes are narrow. His lips are pursed. His fingers are
methodically
adding just a pinch of this and a dash of that to the acrid green fluid in
the test tube before him. His thoughts are a hodgepodge of dated images, his
heart a stale mosaic of hatred for a grievance long past. He is thinking of
the one who hurt him, and he is concocting a poison for the offender.

It sounds like an excerpt from an old movie serial, doesn't it? However,
here is where the scene changes direction. Envision that same pathetic
scientist
breathing a sigh of relief as he straightens up, marveling at the liquid
vengeance he has created. Now, finally, imagine that poor soul saying, "This
will
show him," as he turns the test tube bottoms-up and drinks the poison
himself.

That's a surprising twist - one that we would not expect in a movie. Yet,
there is a good chance you have done this very thing at one time or another.

Bitterness is a toxin that we prepare for someone else, but then drink
ourselves. It is a concentrated dose of emotional poison, often one that we
carefully
nurture and grow over the course of years. When we react to someone's
wrongdoing by withdrawing and giving free reign to daydreams of retribution
and ill
will, we are slowly poisoning our own hearts and minds.

Ask God to reveal any signs of poison in your system. Then, give yourself a
dose of the antidote - forgiveness.


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