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Monday, September 25, 2017

A Bitter Spirit or a Joyful One?



            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  If it’s the genuine recipe, there will never be a bitter after-taste! 

            It’s a human malady….something we really don’t like nor do we seek after, but we all have to deal with. It’s called BITTERNESS.  Is there any of that poison in the pantry of your heart?  The enemy uses it regularly to steal our joy and cause dissention…among friends, married couples, family members, working colleagues. No one is immune! 

            Linda Evans Sheperd* describes this trait in these words: “Most people would never add a few drops of arsenic to their fruit smoothie. They’d say, ‘That’s just crazy.’ Yet many sip daily from a cup of bitterness.  And if you asked about it, they’d say, ‘Why shouldn’t I? Didn’t you see what my (friend, spouse, in-law, boss, employee, office, church, school, community, sweetheart, government, enemy, attacker, customer, neighbor, family member, or other) did to me?  I never deserved that. So, of course, I sip from a bitter cup.’” 

            We all can identify with that way of thinking!  That’s our human nature. But what would Jesus have us do regarding drinking bitterness into our spirit?   I’m pretty sure the answer can be found in Ephesians 4:32:  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” 

            Drink the sweet JOY JUICE of Jesus…not the  bitter cup of unforgiveness.


*How To Pray When You Need a Miracle by Linda Evans Sheperd  (Page 69)

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