The Root of Bitterness

by Rocky Fleming

Day 3:  The Fruit of Bitterness

I wish I could grow and reap the vegetables from a garden.  But I cannot.  I’ve tried, several times, and the only things I can grow are weeds.  I’ve got some kind of anti-vegetables thing going on in me that just doesn’t get it done, except those weeds I mentioned.  I am real good with those things.  I’m a real natural, for all I have to do is let my garden plot do what it does naturally.  Those weeds just grow and grow.  I have a point about the root of bitterness.  It, too, is an unwelcome guest in our life.  It has to be battled against so that a life will be free from it.

On the flip side of my horticultural failure is our former Operations Coordinator, Becky Elliott, who is a Master Gardener.  She and husband Tony are really handy with their garden.  They produce massive amounts of great vegetables.  I know from experience and observation that their work begins with the soil, before it gets to the harvest.  The soil is broken up, fed, cultivated and then planted.  Then the plants are nurtured.  The result is juicy, sweet tomatoes and corn, along with many other delicious fruits and vegetables.  Now here’s my point:

Jesus spoke of a similar dynamic with the fruit that comes from our abiding relationship with Him.  He also used the metaphor, “good soil”, to describe the abiding relationship with Him.  The harvest of good, tasty fruit is produced in an unhindered fellowship with Him.  It is birthed naturally.  Like an organic plant that He illustrated, a fruit from our healthy relationship with Him is produced and this fruit then reproduces.  It is the process that Jesus formed, and it is called The Church.  

For the last 2,000 years, we have seen a naturally reproducing, organic process formed from the few people who became Jesus’ disciples in its first year of formation, and then they taught others what He had taught them.  He taught strongly about forgiveness.  Why so?  It is because the reproduction of bad fruit will also occur if we have a wrong relationship with Christ, and unforgiveness will do this.  It will bear the fruit of bitterness.  This fruit ranges from anger to outrage, from self-pity to self-centeredness, to many other kinds of expressions of the root of bitterness.  These are examples of the fruit of bitterness.

Like good fruit, the fruit of bitterness will also reproduce after itself.  It is a natural occurrence, just like those weeds in my garden that I spoke of.  Left unchecked, the weeds in your life will become your life, and since weeds are good for nothing, your life will become the same.  To eradicate these weeds in your life, you must begin with the soil to get rid of the seeds and to also make it healthy.  The process begins way before the good fruit shows.  It becomes a prioritized effort to root out the deep-rooted weeds of bitterness.  

When someone is trying to root out the root of bitterness in his or her life, the soil of their life must be improved.   This is where the nutrition of God’s word and obedience to His instructions attack the root of bitterness.  We begin to see bitterness as Jesus does.  It is an enemy.  There is nothing good that can come from it.  Its fruit is more bitterness in the lives around us as we become the seeding source for this poisonous plant.

Sometimes I am conflicted if obedience or understanding comes first.  Although it would be good to understand why God wants us to forgive others as He has us, and His feeding on His word helps us understand His heart and our need, I guess I fall on the side that obedience, even though we do not know why, is our first step.  Therefore, if you want to eradicate this root of bitterness and its fruit from your life, it begins with identifying the source, forgiving this person, and then preparing your life for the good fruit that follows.  More on that tomorrow.