Bitterness Will Eat You Up

I have a confession.

I have been struggling with bitterness and have been struggling with it for quite some time now. I’m not going to hash out any details but am asking for prayers that God will work in my heart in order to let go of the extreme bitterness I have towards a certain person.

 

Uncontrolled temper is soon dissipated on others. Resentment, bitterness, and self-pity build up inside our hearts and eat away at our spiritual lives like a slowly spreading cancer.

– Jerry Bridges

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.

Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness only makes trouble for the person who harbors resentment, not the person being resented. They are going about their lives most likely unaware of the bitterness you are harboring.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV) tells us to “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

In Colossians 3:13 we are told to  “make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.“

¹⁵ But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:15 (NLT)

It’s hard to forgive someone who hurt you deeply but allowing that bitterness and resentment to build up will only tear you down in the end.

Your Purpose, Your Gift

I thoroughly enjoyed the sermon this morning at church. Pastor David spoke from Romans 12:3-8

³ For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. ⁴ Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, ⁵ in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. ⁶ According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; ⁷ if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; ⁸ if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:3-8

We all have gifts. Maybe some have more than others but we ALL have that one gift that can be used to glorify the Lord.

He really got me thinking this morning. I didn’t take notes but I should have because my brain fog is preventing me from truly remembering all that he said. I do know this: I have a gift and I believe it’s my talent for writing. David reminded us this morning to not think lowly about our gift. For instance, we don’t need to go around “woe is me, I can’t do anything right…” (I may or may not have been doing this the last couple of weeks leading up to my creative writing class that starts tomorrow) But we ALSO don’t need to go around thinking highly of ourselves. We need to think “sensibly.”

Check out Pastor David’s sermon: https://www.facebook.com/MissionChurchVB/videos/1041781249938086

What is your gift? What is your purpose?

But if we are the body
Why aren’t his arms reaching?
Why aren’t his hands healing?
Why aren’t his words teaching?And if we are the body
Why aren’t his feet going?
Why is his love not showing them
There is a way, there is a way

Casting Crowns, “If We Are the Body”

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:10-11

Don’t Follow the World’s Standards

Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you say.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I wish I was popular” so I find the newest clothing item that all the cool kids are wearing.

“I just want to feel included.” so I start using curse words to fit in with how they talk.

“I wish I was smart enough…good enough…pretty enough.

Everyone wants to feel included when it comes to certain situations. We don’t want to get laughed at, talked about or looked down upon. So we dress differently, we speak differently and go through many different changes in order to fit in.

I’ve been struggling at work lately, trying to fight Satan as he convinces me that I really do want to feel included with the non believers.

I’ve been giving in to this desire every day. I find myself becoming more OF the world rather than just IN the world.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect

Romans 12:2

This world is such a hot mess. So much evil. So much negativity. It’s become a self absorbed world. A quote I found from Billy Graham really hit home.

As Christians, of course, we must live in the world. We must infiltrate the world with a purpose to help win the world. But we are not to participate in the evils of the world. There are certain things that a Christian must say no to—in politics, in the shop, in the office. We must show that we are citizens of another world, and many times we may suffer misunderstanding and persecution because of it.

Billy Graham.

Once again I feel like I’m focusing too much on what people think and whether or not I’m measuring up to their standards. It shouldn’t be this way. It shouldn’t be me trying to be like others. It should be ME being the person GOD created me to be. I’m trying so hard to fit in when I should be listening to God and remembering that He created me in His own image. He loves me and He longs to have that relationship with me. And here I am, pretending to be someone I really am not.

How are we to spread the love of God to the world when we are distracted by the same world?

Who Is It? Is it Me? Is it You?

I’m longing for the Lord to hurry up and come back to get His children. This world we live in just keeps getting worse and worse. It’s unbearable sometimes. However, the Lord will come back when we least expect it and not a second earlier.

A day is like a thousand years to the Lord and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does NOT want ANYONE to be destroyed but wants EVERYONE to REPENT!

2 Peter 3:8-9

Who are You waiting for to come to know you? Is it me? Do I truly know You? Or is it someone else? Who is that LAST person who will come to know Christ?

“Until the whole world hears” This line from Casting Crowns popped in my head. THAT’s who You’re waiting for….the whole world.

Romans 10:9-13^{: 9} If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But how does this happen?

Romans 10:14-15-¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

It is US! WE are to bring the Good News to everyone we possibly can!

The curiosity in me keeps thinking, “Okay so WHO is that LAST person? WHO is that last person to come to Christ before He comes back?

Are we planting the seed in those around us? Are we doing our best to reach out to those who need Jesus?

In Whom We Have Redemption

Redeem: to buy back, to save by payment of a ransom, to free from the consequences of sin.

Redeemer: one who frees or delivers another from difficulty, danger or bondage, usually by the payment of a ransom price.

Redemption.

In biblical terms, redemption refers to the deliverance of Christians from sin.

In Colossians 1:13-14 it says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. He rescued us from spending eternity in hell.

Let’s face it….we are sinners. We don’t deserve God’s love or grace. We don’t deserve to live eternity in Heaven alongside Christ. Sin has messed this world up so much and yes, we are born sinners.

We need a Redeemer and Christ came down to earth to save us from a life of damnation. He suffered and bled on that cross FOR US! Because He LOVES US that much!

Colossians 1:21-22: “This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. YET now he has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result He has brought you into his own presence and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

When we come to Christ our debt is cancelled. We are citizens of Heaven!

Colossians 2:14 says “He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

“It Is Well (With My Soul), Horatio Spafford

The Lord loves you with an unconditional love.

Our chains have been set free.

Representing Jesus In a lost and dying world

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father………Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Colossians 3:17, 23

²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

2 Corinthians 5:20

Have you ever been somewhere and been told that they didn’t know you were a Christian? Or in my case, they “forgot I was religious.” I remember feeling horrible and that I had let God down.

I wasn’t being a good representative of the Lord. And it broke my heart as I know it broke His.

I’ve allowed the world to dictate how I live my life. I’ve put the world first and have pushed God further down the list of what’s important.

We are called to be better than that. We are supposed to be a light in this dark world.

I need to do better….I need to stop allowing the world to influence my life and my walk with Christ.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2

This world we live in has become increasingly dark and evil. So many, many people are dying without knowing Christ. It’s time to put a stop to that.

Let’s Represent Jesus!

running out of time

I realized tonight that my brother is going to spend eternity in hell if he were to die tonight. Well, I have known it for awhile but tonight while listening to Thank You Jesus For the Blood Applied I broke down in tears.

And I’m running out of time. I have had plenty of time to talk to him about Jesus Christ. And what have I done? I avoid him at all costs. We don’t have the best relationship. He IS 17 years older than me after all. Not that age matters but it’s just so hard to speak to him. Why do I have such a hard time?

He has had 3 heart attacks and a stroke and miraculously he’s still alive. He suffers from emphysema and he will be going for a CT scan of his lungs. He has been smoking since he was 13, possibly even younger and he’s 55 now.

I’m not going to lie….I have a huge feeling he has lung cancer. I’m not a doctor of course and I hope and pray I’m wrong. Honestly? I think HE thinks it’s cancer. He watched his own father slowly die because of smoking and yet it’s not enough to make him quit. I know he knows he needs to quit and I don’t know what its going to take for him to quit. One would think the heart attacks and stroke would scare him into quitting but sadly it has not.

He needs Jesus and this whole time I could be talking to him, telling him God loves him and what am I doing? NOTHING! I just don’t know HOW to talk to him.

I know he knows he needs to get his life straight with Jesus. He grew up in church, after all. He knows but has chosen not to believe.

Please pray for my brother and please pray for me to figure out a way to talk to him. He’s going to die and his blood will be on my hands because I could have done something. I could have planted the seed.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

James 4:17

Are You All In?

“These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”

Mark 7:6b

“No one is so miserable as the poor person who maintains the appearance of wealth.” Charles Spurgeon

I am going to be vulnerable with you all for a moment. Sometimes I struggle with whether or not I’m being hypocritical when I write blog posts about faith in the Lord or when I post things on my IG.

Do my actions in the real world reflect my actions online? I’ve been doing some digging on this subject and decided to write about it.

Definition of a hypocrite:

 1: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.
2: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Question: Have you ever felt like sometimes you could be a hypocrite when it comes to your relationship with the Lord?

I have felt like that once or twice. I get to thinking about this blog and things I post on social media and wonder if I’m being a hypocrite sometimes. Do my actions outside my blogging world and my social media world show that I am a follower of Christ?

Basically, do I practice what I preach? (or blog/post) Do I reflect Jesus when I come face to face with unbelievers. Or do I try to “fit in” with them? Do I have one foot in, one foot out? We can’t ride the fence though. We are either all in or all out. Otherwise, when we face Jesus…and we all will…what is He going to say to you? Will He tell you “Well done my good and faithful servant? Or will He tell you, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

That passage of Scripture, found in Matthew 7:21-23 has always scared me a little. It makes one truly think about their standing with the Lord. One can’t be a Christian AND a hypocrite. It’s an oxymoron.

I found this website called BibleReasons.com where you can look up any subject and it pulls Scripture related to that subject. This is what I found regarding hypocrisy:

“Are there religious hypocrites out there who try to appear holy and smarter than everyone else but are filled with hypocrisy and wickedness. Of course, but there are also people who seek to do God’s will above everything else. Sometimes people are just immature believers.”

“Hypocrites talk about Jesus, pray etc…but their hearts are not cooperating. Many people know the Bible front and back but they are not living the life that they recite to others.”

This quote below is how I finally realized that my fears of hypocrisy are not real. After I read it I felt confident that I am not a hypocrite. Another quote I came across says “the fact that you’re wrestling with doubts and fears about your standing with God leads us to think that you can’t be guilty of rejecting Christ. If you were, you wouldn’t be worried about it” Awhile back I struggled with the thought that I had rejected Christ, that I had committed the unforgivable sin.

Hypocrites may have remorse over their sins but they never change. There is a difference between worldly and godly sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to repentance.. With worldly sorrow you are only sad that you got caught.

BibleReasons.com

I was talking to a fellow blogger about my feelings of hypocrisy and she was very helpful. She suggested that what I could be was experiencing condemnation. All Christians go through it. We realize and see where we fall short. We realize our need for a Savior. It’s a good reminder of why we need to cling to Christ and His Word.

There are a lot of people in the world today who claim to be Christians yet their lives do not reflect Jesus. They are “Christian” in name only. They don’t read their Bible, they attend church two times a year (Christmas and Easter), their prayer life is non-existent. It’s these very people who we need to be witnessing to. We need to be concerned with their eternal future! Because one day the Lord Jesus IS coming back and if you’re not right with the Lord, you will hear these words, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (shudders)

A Christian in Name Only, also called a cultural Christian nominal Christian or more often, a liberal Christian, is someone who professes to be a Christian in public but has a considerable lack of knowledge about the basic tenets of one’s professed faith, often “knowing” it only from what is half-remembered from Sunday school or from pop-cultural osmosis. To put it another way, a Christian in name only is someone who “would call himself a Christian, or be so regarded by others, but who has no authentic commitment to Christ based on personal faith.”

https://www.conservapedia.com/Christian_In_Name_Only

The world says that they don’t go to church or believe in God because all Christians are hypocrites. No, all Christians are sinners, just like the world. “The church is a hospital for sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us that “we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Some more quotes I found to be useful:

1. Don’t let your lips and your lives preach two different messages.
2. Your most powerful testimony is how you treat others after the church service is over.
   And this last quote really got to me…..
3. What a heartbreak it would be to live an “almost” Christian life then “almost” get into Heaven.

(I do believe I’m going to have to make this into two blog posts. There is so much to learn about hypocrisy and “almost Christians”.)

I’m going all in
Head first to the deep end
I hear You calling
And this time the fear won’t win
I’m going, I’m going all in
I’m all in, I’m all in All in
I’m all in, I’m all in
I believe that one day I will see Your kingdom come And I wanna hear You say, “Welcome home My child, well done”
So, I step to the edge and I take a deep breath

Matthew West, All In

We Have a Responsibility

Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore listen to what I say and warn them for me. If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways then they will die in their sins and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent they will die in their sins but you will have saved themselves.

Ezekiel 33:7-9

It is our duty to tell others about Christ. It is our responsibility. As followers of Christ we are called to present the Gospel to the lost. I came across a quote by Timothy Simpson the other day, “The Great Commission is hindered when the Great Commandment is disregarded” and it really got me to thinking. We owe it to the person who is a lost sinner just like we were before Christ. We owe it to their eternal future. We are called to love them, to not want to see them die without Christ.

I needed shelter, I was an orphan
Now You call me a citizen of Heaven
When I was broken, You were my healing.
Now your love is the air that I’m breathing.
I have a future, my eyes are open.

Passion (featuring Kristian Stanfill)

What are we doing with our time? Are we spending it on ourselves? Are we ignoring God’s plea to reach out to those who don’t know the Lord? If I’m being honest I’m spending way too much time on myself and not enough time witnessing.

My pastor recently preached a sermon series on the story of Jonah. If you’re not familiar with the story, Jonah was called to go preach to the wicked living in Nineveh. Jonah was like, “Nope, nope, nope. Not doing that!” Jonah knew how wicked they were and fled in the opposite direction to Joppa where he discovered a ship heading towards Tarshish. He hopped on board hoping to escape the Lord. “But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. How can you sleep at a time like this? he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god. Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives. (Jonah 1:4-6, NLT)

So the sailors cast lots to try to figure out which god caused the terrible storm. Jonah was honest with them and told them to throw him into the sea. Once this happened the storm stopped at once! And the Lord caused a “great fish” to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days and cried out to the Lord and the Lord had the whale spit him out on dry land.

Finally, the Lord once again told Jonah to head to Nineveh and this time Jonah obeyed. He headed to Nineveh and warned the city that in “forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” (Jonah 3:4b) Nineveh’s king heard Jonah and announced to the crowd “People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence” (Jonah 3:8)

And so when God “saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:10)

How many times is God going to ask us to reach out to the lost? How many times are we going to run the other way?

We must do better. We must love them so much that we can’t bear it if they were to die without knowing the Lord, spending an eternity in hell.

We must love. We must care. We must obey the Lord.

Start Right Here

So apparently this song came out in 2018 and I’m just now hearing it! I was listening to Amazon Music when this song popped up and literally stopped me in my tracks.

Take a look at some of the lyrics!

We want our coffee in the lobby
We watch our worship on a screen
We got a Rockstar preacher
Who won’t wake us from our dreams
We want our blessings in our pockets
We keep our missions overseas
But for the hurting in our cities
Would we even cross the street?

But we wanna see the heart set free and the tyrants kneel
The walls fall down and our land be healed
But church if we want to see a change in the world out there

It’s got to start right here
It’s got to start right now
Lord, I’m starting right here
Lord, I’m starting right now

What are we doing to bring others to Christ? What are we sacrificing? ARE we sacrificing? Or are we too caught up in our comfort zone to even think about lost souls?

As we say goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021 may it be our mission to start right here! To reach those who are lost, to proclaim the Gospel!

Why do we find it difficult to break the silence about the best news and most important Person the world has ever known?

Herb Vander Lugt

Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.