Anger x Time = Bitterness

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

Ephesians 4:26-31 ESV

Have you ever bit into something that tasted bitter? Perhaps it was your first taste of black coffee or maybe you got fed some dandelion greens by a big brother or a bully? Regardless, many bitter fruits come from bitter roots. The passage I have referenced above, Paul first tells us not to be angry and to not sin by allowing ourselves to dwell on the anger or hurt that we carry. Every time we do this, we allow the enemy a foothold in the battlefield of our mind. 

Jesus taught us that the enemy is a thief that comes to "steal, kill, and destroy." This is exactly what the enemy does in our lives when we give him a strategic advantage in our war with him. He tries to steal our faith and leave us with fear. He will steal our joy and leave us in the darkness of depression. He will steal our love and leave us with only hate in our hearts. The name Satan literally means "accuser." And by attacking our minds with depression, anxiety, and fear, he causes us to dwell on the bad things in our lives. He uses anything and everything he can to keep us focused on how mistreated or wronged we are or how bad we have messed our lives up and how we have no hope. He is like a person that feeds us what we want to hear with one hand, then stealing our wallet with the other. 

It all starts with what you allow yourself to believe about who and what you are. Bitter people will bring up the person they are angry with and speak totally negatively about them. If you are allowing yourself to speak these words, you would do well to drink poison because that is what you are doing to your heart. If you are listening to a bitter person, be careful the poison they are spilling out doesn't take root and cause you to start down that dark path. 

When we allow ourselves to dwell on the anger we may be carrying we can't live the type of life that we are meant to. Rather than operating from a place of love and peace towards those around us, we become hateful, negative, and restless with our lives. We will close off our hearts to those closest to us. Ultimately, we become someone that no one recognizes. The most loving and joyful person can turn into a rabid dog when hatefulness and bitterness take deep roots in our hearts and mind. 

This bitterness we carry can also harm us in a physical sense. The tension created inside you can harden your facial features and make you lose the radiance that shines through love and joy. All in all, you become a miserable person to be around. So miserable you don't even like yourself too much. It all drags you into the darkness and the pit of depression. 

Bitterness dries us up emotionally, socially, and especially spiritually. It depresses who we are supposed to be and contaminates our soul. It will weaken the fellowship that all Christians have with God. It will make you feel as if your prayers get no farther than the ceiling above your head. God's word will sound meaningless and worship will be almost painful. It was so eloquently put once that bitterness "Does more damage in the life where it is stored than the one on whom it was poured."

The only conclusion I can offer is that we must forgive. As hard as that may sound and I am sure you are saying, "You don't know what they did to me!" And you would be correct. I don't know. But what I do know is that until you tear out the root of bitterness in your heart the depression, anxiety, and most importantly the anger you carry will never go away. There is no pill or magic cure for this. It takes humbling yourself before God and asking Him to take the weight of the anger and bitter feelings you carry. That is the whole reason He took up the cross in the first place. The only cure to the poison of bitterness is to forgive. And it may take more than once to get where we need to be. It may be something you have to do every day for the rest of your life but I can promise that it makes the journey so much easier. And if we can't show this example to the generations behind us they are doomed to repeat the cycle we are in. They will carry the chains of anger, bitterness, depression, and anxiety. And it is my belief that when we pass on these chains they double in size and weight. If we don't teach them to forgive, then they can't forgive us when we fail them. We must break the chains and set a new course, if not for ourselves, for our children.