Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Blackaby discusses how bitterness in a person's life can result from a childhood experience or an incident with a coworker or friend. It can "derive from a sense of being unjustly treated". His portrayal of bitterness stems from occurrences that happen to us.
Bitterness as a result of what other people have done is not a challenge for me; however, my struggle with bitterness results from all the times in the past where I have injured other people. Whether these incidents have occurred in a professional or familial relationship, I allow my past thoughtless, mean, hurtful actions to negatively affect my present outlook and sense of self-worth. I have allow self-bitterness to take root in my life. "That bitter root grows up" and causes trouble in a variety of areas of my life.
Luckily I have a God that is strong enough, gracious enough, wise enough and involved enough to heal me from these self-inflicted wounds of bitterness. By allowing self-bitterness to continue to grow in my heart, I am denying the grace of God that can free me. It won't be an easy battle for me. As Blackaby points out, "you can get so used to it (bitterness), you are even comfortable with it." That is the case in my life. Self-flagellation for my past mistakes is such a strong mind-set it will take a lot of intentional, consistent prayer and struggle to overcome the self-bitterness I have allowed to develop.
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