Thought For Today: – Put Away Bitterness and Malice

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger; and clamour and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another; tenderhearted, forgiving one another; even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Bitterness and malice are offshoots of unforgiveness. There’re folks who say, “I will never forgive so-and-so for what he did to me.” Others add a different style to it and say “I have forgiven him for what he did to me, but I don’t think I can ever forget it” As a child of God, you should act like your heavenly Father, who never recalls offences. Malice and bitterness will take the shine out of your life. If you want the beauty of God – the glory of God – to be seen in you, then refuse to keep malice or be bitter.

I love the counsel given by the Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:20, he said, “Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” Babies don’t know how to be bitter or keep malice. They’re too innocent for that; they don’t have enough sense to regard or recognize any wrong done to them. That’s what the Spirit of God is telling you here; be as babies! Don’t regard the wrongs done to you by others to the extent that you become bitter.

One of the most dangerous effects of harbouring bitterness or malice in your heart is that it short-circuits the power of God in your life, making you unable to function with the Spirit. This was what happened to the Prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 3. When the Kings of Israel, Judah and Edom came to inquire of the Lord from him, the prophet spoke out in anger to the King of Israel: “As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of jehoshaphat the king of judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee” (2 Kings 3:14). He then had to call for a minstrel (a musician) to play so the anointing could come on him. Elisha was so angry and bitter against the King of Israel that he couldn’t hear what the Spirit was saying.

Don’t open the door to Satan in your life through bitterness and malice; put them away completely. If you’ve held anything against anyone, it’s time to sincerely forgive them and show them the love of the Father which has been shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!