There is all kinds of bitterness these days. People are bitter over the economy, government, school and an abundance of other things. I know that I cannot stop them being bitter, but I do have a question that I must ask.

If I let the bitterness of another person affect my mood, does it not become an idol? By common definition, anything that gets between a person and God is an idol. So if that bitterness I mentioned becomes part of my attitude, and I do not pursue God, or pray for that other person, it is an idol. What makes it even worse, if it could be worse, is that I don’t even like it as an idol.

Who wants to serve bitterness as a master? Yet we nearly all do at some point in our lives. This or that didn’t go our way, Joe Bob was griping about something and we let it bring us down. No matter the original source, we let bitterness take over.

You may try to say otherwise, as I now realize I do, “it’s not that I let bitterness take God’s place, I just don’t feel like reading the Bible right now. As soon as I feel a bit better, I’ll pray for the person.” The words could go on from there. One of my favorites is that I don’t want to deal with it because I might say the wrong thing. If you were talking to the other person, that might fly, but not with God. It isn’t like we can hide our attitudes from Him. When bitterness creeps in, that is the exact time that we need to fall to our knees before God.

Bitterness creates nothing but more bitterness; God creates joy. Which one is better to live with? We must ask for forgiveness first, then we should pray for the source of the bitterness. Pray for the government (you can’t make any excuses on that one, God told us to), pray for the person that took the last apple pie (there are any number of reasons they needed it more than they you did. I have over 20 reasons that I don’t need a whole pie, over 100 if you listen to the ideal size I should be), pray for Joe Bob. Stop wallowing in the bitterness, be cleansed by God’s grace.