No Records

1 Corinthians 13:^4-6 “Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.” (GNT, emphasis added).

Bitterness is an underground job—it happens beneath the surface, so nobody sees it, and that is why it is so dangerous. Bitterness has a dangerous root. You may still be smiling and even still be in friendship with the person, but the deep-seated bitterness is growing. Today, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I pray you will cooperate with the Holy Spirit and the root of bitterness will be totally expunged from your life (say Amen). No one sees the root of bitterness growing. You may have experienced hurt, disappointment, or an offense. And you tell yourself, ‘It is fine, I am okay’. But you are not okay. You allow it to develop roots, fester, and grow.

Some erroneously think is a defensive mechanism. No, it is not. The only thing it does is it frustrates the grace of God upon your life. Imagine how far you would have gone if the grace of God was fully functional in your life. One of the things that frustrates it as we have seen in the scriptures is allowing the root of bitterness to grow. So, you may not even know that an offense has taken root. Two ladies, friends, were going out and laughing and having a good time. Then they stopped for ice-cream, and they bought different flavours. So, lady D dipped her spoon into Lady E’s ice-cream out of love and friendship. And Lady E emptied her ice-cream on Lady D’s head saying, ‘That was how you took my pen the other day’.

Lady D is in shock, ‘Pen, when?’ and Lady E continues, ‘You think I do not remember how you took my pen when you know I actually needed it?’ It turned out that Lady D actually did take the pen. But Lady E (well it may not be fair to say she pretended) said to herself, ‘It is okay. I will let it go’. However, she never really let it go. Saying, ‘Okay, I will let it go’ sounded spiritual, sounded mature even. But she never really let it go. Those are the things that create the root of bitterness that frustrate the grace of God upon people’s lives. Love, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:⁵ “…it keeps no record of wrongs.” (NIV). However, bitterness keeps a detailed record of wrong.

He hurt me. She misled me. He tricked me. She lied to me. He let me down. She led me on. The problem is the longer you allow the root of bitterness to live, the more it spreads, and the harder it is to kill. The longer you keep excusing it, the more it grows roots, and the more difficult it is to expunge. The more it frustrates the grace of God upon your life. Do not let bitterness destroy your destiny. I pray again that bitterness will not frustrate the grace of God upon your life.

Prayer: Father, by Your Holy Spirit, search my heart and reveal every root of bitterness, and give me the courage and strength to uproot them all, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!