Pastor Ralph Diehl » bitterness http://www.ralphdiehl.com Thoughts on Life Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:00:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 BITTERNESS http://www.ralphdiehl.com/2009/10/22/bitterness/ http://www.ralphdiehl.com/2009/10/22/bitterness/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:00:35 +0000 pastordiehl http://www.ralphdiehl.com/?p=1287 Following is a letter written by a real person: “I found my husband with another woman. Although he begged me for forgiveness I wanted my pound of flesh, so I filed for divorce, even though our kids asked me not to. Two years later my husband was still trying to get me back, but I wanted none of it. He’d hurt me and I wanted revenge. Finally, he gave up, married a young widow with 2 children and rebuilt his life without me. They’re all so happy, and I’m just a lonely, miserable woman who let bitterness ruin her life.”

There is no question that infidelity is wrong. But without forgiveness,bitterness is all that’s left! There comes a point at which anger is no longer just an emotion – its a driving force. Like cocaine, you need larger and more frequent doses. Once that happens, you move even further from forgiveness, because without your anger you’ve no source of energy at all. It’s what drives hate groups like the KKK and the Skinheads.

God says, “Forgive anyone who does you wrong…as Christ has forgiven you” (Colossians 3:13), because bitterness is fatal.

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