The sin of bitterness

What is the sin of bitterness?

Just as happiness is a choice, bitterness is a choice. Choose the joy of happiness and receive peace and contentment. Choose the sin of bitterness and receive pain that hurts everyone around. How does it start? Where does it end? What is the cure?

Bitterness starts in the heart

Consider Simon the Sorcerer, who saw the miracles performed by Philip, Peter, and John. He was jealous of their fame, so he asked to buy their power. It didn’t end well for him. If you fall into the same trap, it won’t end well for you either.

Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power, that whoever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.  For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”  Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.” (Acts 8:18-24 WEB)

πικρία, πικρίας, ἡ (πικρός), bitterness:

χολή πικρίας, equivalent to χολή πικρά (Winers Grammar, 34, 3 b.; Buttmann, § 132, 10), bitter gall,  equivalent to extreme wickedness, Acts 8:23;  ῤίζα πικρίας (references as above), a bitter root, and so producing bitter fruit, Hebrews 12:15 (from Deuteronomy 29:18, the Alex. manuscript), cf. Bleek at the passage; metaphorically, bitterness, i. e. bitter hatred, Ephesians 4:31; of speech, Romans 3:14 after Psalm 9:28 (). —Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

This is the same extreme wickedness practiced by evil unrighteous people. Why do you want to follow their ways?

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
     There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
     Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
      Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 
     Their feet are swift to shed blood:
     Destruction and misery are in their ways:
     And the way of peace have they not known:
There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-18 KJV)

This becomes the sin of bitterness

If you continue in bitterness for a very long time, it will lead to a bondage, which is impossible to escape. It will warp your perception of people and events around you. It will cause you to hurt everyone around you. It will destroy your testimony. And it will leave you like a dead branch, withered, dried out, and useless.

 For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.  Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah. At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city. They shall wander up and down for food, and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied. (Psalm 59:12-15 WEB)

Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him;
     And he delighted not in blessing, and it is far from him.
 He clothed himself also with cursing as with his raiment, 
     And it is come into his inward parts like water,
     And like oil into his bones.
Let it be unto him as the garment which he putteth on,
     And for the girdle wherewith he is girded continually.’ (Psalm 109:17-19 JPS Tanakh 1917)

This doesn’t work. It doesn’t solve the problem. And it hurts you in the process. It has been likened to drinking acid and hoping it hurts other people.

• The sin of stubbornness (arrogance)
• Why can’t I forgive?
• Have you hardened your heart against God like Pharaoh?

The cure for bitterness

The cure for the sin of bitterness is the same as every other sin. Confess your sin to God, repent of your sin by changing your behavior, and forsake your sin by making it right with those you have hurt, so God will forgive you. Please read Living the New Life by the Apostle Paul.

Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.  And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:25-32 WEB)

Bitterness hurts everyone and it also causes deep emotional pain and sadness to the Holy Spirit. If you are overcome with the poison of bitterness, repent of your wickedness, and ask God to forgive your sin of bitterness and change your heart.