What causes bitterness towards life and God?
Hebrews 12:14-15
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 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.
Colossians 1:22
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Hebrews 12:15b
And that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Deuteronomy 29:17-18
You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
Hebrews 12:16
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
Genesis 25:31-32
Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
Genesis 25:34b
So Esau despised his birthright.
Bitterness towards God comes from choosing:
Physical over the spiritual
Works over grace
Temporal over the eternal
Anxiety over gratefulness
God always restores the bitter heart that surrenders to his love and grace.
Ok, ok, I get it. But no big deal because God will always be there when I need him, right?
Deuteronomy 29:19
When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
Hebrews 12:17
Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.