We can all experience radical changes; we can all make phenomenal development.
II Peter 3:18 tells us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
By the grace of God, we can be different in a year’s time from what we are today. We are coming into a new year, how much have you changed this year? How much have you been conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ? This is our primary destiny; it should be our primary focus in life!
We need to understand what locks us into an inability to change. Because we want to grow and to be more like the Lord, we need to discover those things which lock us in and prevent us from moving into a higher spiritual level.
Hebrews chapter 12 speaks of the dealings of God, but it does not emphasize that our going through problems and difficult circumstances should result in our becoming discouraged over them.
Paul gave another viewpoint in Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.”
God does not allow anything to destroy us if we are open to hear what He is saying.
We can so react to our circumstances that they either become the chastening of the Lord to help us become a son, “a partaker of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10), or to deal with a wrong spirit we might have when we go through that chastening.
Notice the warning given in this passage: Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Hebrews 12:14–17.
What locks a person into a state of heart, into the bitterness of their own spirit, so that even when they seek a way to repent they cannot? What is God trying to teach in this Scripture concerning Esau? Peter said that God “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).
These next verses may not seem related to bitterness, but in them we will see how we can become locked into this state. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. (For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen).” Notice that after teaching this prayer, Jesus said, “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:9–15.
It appears that God will forgive any other kind of sin; but if we are bitter, if we are unforgiving, if we have a critical spirit, we seem to be locked into it.
Jesus said that we can pray this prayer, but if we do not forgive men their trespasses and debts, God will not forgive us. This is very true.
It is not that God does not want to meet our hearts. God has not pointed out one sin as being worse than another. He is warning us here about the kind of sin that enters a person’s spirit.
There is a lock on our spirits when we are bitter or critical. We become like Esau who had a root of bitterness. He so lost his sense of values that he sold his birthright for one meal. It seems amazing, because Esau had come from a godly man. Though he sought a place of repentance, God did not give it to him.
Paul wrote, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. II Corinthians 7:1.
There is not only a filthiness of flesh, but also a filthiness of spirit. This filthiness of spirit may be an accumulation of bitterness in our spirits that actually locks us into a certain state or condition.
This happened to many ministers in days past. When they experienced difficult situations, bitterness arose in their spirits, and they became very critical. Sometimes such a minister left the ministry and drifted until eventually, maybe years later, he fortunately had a new opportunity for a change of spirit so that God could meet him.
Many adversities happen to us which do not seem to be of much consequence. We merely shrug them off and go on, but going through a difficulty and becoming personally bitter freezes our spirits.
If we become bitter and critical and feel as if we have reached our limit, we may become locked into that state for years. Then there is the danger of never coming out of it.
We need to seek a forgiving spirit, to throw our problems on the Lord and forgive others, to determine to keep our spirit open and go on with the Lord. Having a right spirit is more important than just being right in a situation.
In a conflict with others, those who do not have a right spirit become bitter. They insist that they are right and the other party is absolutely wrong.
Years later, the person who was wrong may be amazingly further with God than the person who was right but had a bitter spirit.
How terrible it is to become bitter! To be able to really forgive and forget is like having an insurance policy, a guarantee that we will always be flexible and soft so that God can shape us into the vessel He wants.
We cannot be critical. We are not to even associate with people who always criticize. We must separate ourselves from them!
Paul said, “We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” (Romans 15:1). We are to restore a brother with “a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).
But whenever we deal with someone with a bitter spirit that has locked themselves into that state, we will rarely, if ever, be able to talk them out of it. If the person changes, it will only be by God meeting them through revelation or chastening.
But revelation does not usually come through to bitter people. You can drive a bitter person to do what God told them to do, but if they are not doing it with a right spirit, even when they seem to repent, they will do as Jonah did.
Jonah was a bitter prophet. Because he did not want to do the will of God, he journeyed the opposite way.
Then God prepared a large fish by which He dealt with Jonah, and he was thrown up on the seashore.
Jonah then hurried off to Nineveh and prophesied, but his spirit was so bad that afterward he sat down to watch God destroy Nineveh.
When it did not happen, he sulked with anger. God said, “Are you doing well to be angry?” Jonah retorted, “I do well to be angry” (Jonah 4:9). Bitterness was still in his heart.
Have you ever noticed that you cannot offend some people? They may not always seem to be the brightest or the most considerate, but they do have a good spirit because they love the Lord and are pressing in to serve Him.
In contrast have you known someone to say, “I love the Lord, but I cannot stand So-and-So. I will never forgive them for what they did to me.” Has that person grown since bitterness entered their spirit? Chances are, they have not grown at all. Life is very difficult for people who are bitter. They tend to misinterpret their situations.
May God help us never to become locked into a bitter spirit. May we never become so trapped that we cease growing and have no change of opinion or new revelation. Then we would have nothing! Most or all that we have spiritually would disappear if we were locked into that unforgiving bitterness.