Every Lord’s day morning we set aside specific time in our service to confess our sins. I’m no statistician nor do I listen to the confessions, so I have no data from which to make many conclusions. But what sin would you suppose needs to be confessed by the most people any given Sunday? In other words, what sin is most popular? What sin would you suppose needs to be confessed by any given person most frequently? In other words, what sin is most repeated? And what sin would you suppose needs to be confessed any given Sunday by any given person that is the worst? In other words, what sin does the most damage?
Again, I have no hard facts to support a definitive answer to those questions. However, I suspect that bitterness is a sin that nears the top of all three lists. The author of Hebrews exhorted his readers to “see to it…that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many are defiled” (Hebrews 12:15).
Bitterness corrodes. Bitterness comes from stinging hurts–real or imagined, biting slights–purposeful or perceived, and burning jealously–how unfair for him to get what everyone knows you deserve. Bitterness grows roots in the soil of self-absorption fertilized by the empathy of others. Bitterness is hard to pull up once planted.
Bitterness “springs up and causes trouble.” Misery loves company even if just to make the company miserable. Bitterness lost any sense of proportion and, if the root system has spread, neither smiles nor logic will stem the festering.
By bitterness “many are defiled.” Either that means that many persons are bitterly defiled or many others are defiled by one person’s bitterness. Even though bitterness is often unmovable, it really branches out. It is easy to find reasons to be bitter. Many do, many times. See to it that you nip it in the bud. Confess and repent from any seed no matter how small.